As the City of London office market gradually picks up, we are involved in a number of projects that are following the construction management (CM) route. Are these isolated examples of the use of CM, or is this the start of a trend? And should other developers think about joining the CM bandwagon?
Does size matter?
It certainly did in a recent Australian case, Unique Building PTY Ltd v Brown. The decision tackles an issue which crops up in construction defect claims: can a party recover the cost of “starting again”? Continue reading
The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 (the Act) has applied (unless specifically excluded) to contracts entered into since 11 May 2000. Ten years on, it seemed timely for us to take stock of receptiveness to third party rights among the industry’s key players. The outcome was encouraging.
Adjudication has contributed much to the construction industry since it was introduced by the Construction Act 1996. On the whole, disputes are resolved more quickly (if not more fairly) and, after some initial scepticism, the industry as a whole has come to accept, if not love, this “new” form of dispute resolution. It is perhaps a measure of adjudication’s success that very few disputes progress beyond the provisional but binding decision of the adjudicator. By and large, parties appear to live with the decision or use it as the platform for a negotiated settlement.
I recently attended a seminar, co-hosted by Kroll Ontrack, Dorsey & Whitney and Pinsent Masons on the use of an electronic disclosure questionnaire in court proceedings. The questionnaire’s proposed introduction illustrates some significant changes in case management that I think will have a real impact on how we litigate.
Last Monday, TeCSA and TECBAR held their annual joint conference with an excellent line up of speakers, including Ramsey J, who gave an informative “state of the nation” talk on the TCC, and Akenhead J, who gave an entertaining and practical perspective on early neutral evaluation in the TCC. This post summarises the highlights from Akenhead J’s talk.
Sustainability is here to stay, but have the industry’s standard form contracts caught up? Should they be leading the charge? Are they just hanging on the coat tails of government regulation?
When I first read the Court of Appeal’s decision in Kookmin Bank v Rainy Sky SA, I couldn’t believe it. Surely I had misunderstood the facts? So I read it again, and everything was as I had thought. Was I missing something?
Construction lawyers and construction companies now seem to take it for granted that construction contracts have to be regulated, without the freedom to contract other industries enjoy.
Should that always be the case? Continue reading
Yesterday evening the Construction Projects Knowledge Management Association invited Mr Justice Ramsey to speak to members and their guests at Keating Chambers. The topic for discussion was the impact of the electronic age on documentation, in terms of:
Both the topics pre-date the Jackson report and much has been written about them. That said, there remains a tendency for practitioners to view them as reforms for the future, rather than part and parcel of the here and now. Continue reading
