Almost everyone has heard of the considerate constractor schemes, but what are they, what areas do they cover and why do they matter? Continue reading
REUTERS | Lisi Niesner
March 21, 2012
Ask the team: what is the Considerate Contractor Scheme?
REUTERS | Paulo Whitaker
March 20, 2012
The vexed question of adjudicators fees
As far as I’m aware, during the years of debate over amendments to the Construction Act 1996, when it came to costs, the focus of most peoples’ attention was on getting rid of contract clauses requiring the referring party to pay both parties’ costs (so-called Tolent clauses). I don’t really recall that much time devoted to what some practitioners now regard as a significant problem, namely the level of costs incurred by the adjudicator and the parties to an adjudication.
REUTERS | Jumana El Heloueh
March 13, 2012
Are people arbitrating more?
Jonathan’s last two posts have looked at a few aspects of arbitration, not least the fact that many of the skills we learn as adjudicators are highly useful when it comes to resolving disputes in other ways, especially as an arbitrator.
As someone primarily involved in resolving disputes via adjudication, I’m all too familiar with the skills that Jonathan talked about. Like many others, I’d like to think they are also part of my repertoire and why people appoint me to resolve their disputes. Continue reading
REUTERS | Kim Hong-Ji
March 7, 2012
The transferable skills of the adjudicator
Recently, Matt and I gave a talk to RICS members in Dubai while in the UAE on business. I’m not sure who enjoyed the evening more though, the delegates who sat through “loss and expense claims in practice“, or Matt and I listening to their stories of the disputes that arise on projects in the Arabian Peninsula. While anyone who has watched the development of this area will know that the Emirati’s appreciate how to do building on a massive scale (the Burj Khalifa is really something to behold), it’s also clear that they also know how to get into some sizeable disputes.
REUTERS | Issei Kato
Recently, I had reason to think about whether the Limitation Act 1980 applies to adjudication. Is it possible that there is no time limit for bringing an adjudication? If it doesn’t, and there is no limit, that would enable a party to refer a dispute to adjudication years or even decades after the accrual of a cause of action.
REUTERS | Ahmad Masood
February 29, 2012
February 2012 digest: spring is in the air
Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Sensitive Plant:
“And spring arose on the garden fair, like the spirit of love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on earth’s dark breast rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.”
Spring is here, with the first signs of flowering bulbs, buds breaking through and birdsong in the air. With thoughts of spring, our attention during February has been on matters environmental, including new guidance (and a revised definition) on contaminated land and a new waste water national policy statement. We have also seen a number of consultations that will have an environmental impact, including on changes to the Building Regulations 2010, the building control system and energy efficiency in buildings. Continue reading
REUTERS | Toby Melville
February 29, 2012
Justice, like the Ritz, is open to all
This quote, generally attributed to Matthew LJ in the nineteenth century, needs to be adapted if what is desired is the TCC’s justice. That is the effect of West Country Renovations v McDowell, decided by Akenhead J on 23 February 2012.
REUTERS | John Kolesidis
February 28, 2012
Adjudication or arbitration as viable alternatives to court
I tend to keep quite a close eye on BAILII to see what’s coming out of the TCC (sad, I know). Up to last week, February had been somewhat quiet, a drought in fact. However, as the month draws to a close a couple of cases have appeared (but not the rain!).
One of the cases that I’m talking about is West Country Renovations v Mr and Mrs McDowell, which concerned the transfer of a case from the TCC in the High Court in London to the TCC in the Central London County Court. On the face of it this may not appear to be terribly exciting, but it is a significant decision. Continue reading
REUTERS | Eduardo Munoz
February 21, 2012
Why should you adjudicate?
It was way back in May 1998 that statutory adjudication first became a reality in the UK. Back then, I suspect everyone wondered what would become of what was a new way of resolving construction disputes. Almost 14 years on, adjudication has become the construction industry’s method of choice for resolving disputes large and small. I imagine few people give as much thought now as they once did to the question “why should you adjudicate?”.
However, the pros and cons of adjudication are on my mind because I am giving a talk about them in the Republic of Ireland. You see, they don’t have a statutory scheme yet and are still unsure about what the process will mean to them and their construction industry. Continue reading
REUTERS | Kim Hong-Ji
February 20, 2012
Ask the team: what’s the difference between “reasonable skill and care” and “all reasonable skill and care”?
A professional consultant or design and build contractor’s duty of care is usually expressed as requiring it to exercise “reasonable skill and care” or “all reasonable skill and care”. Does the “all” add anything and, if so, what? Continue reading
