Practical Law

An estimated 70% of global carbon emissions come from the building and operation of infrastructure with a staggering seven percent of global carbon emissions coming from concrete alone. If we are to come anywhere close to achieving net zero by 2050, the construction and engineering community must play a crucial and immediate role. FIDIC, the … Continue reading FIDIC Climate Change Charter: what does it all mean? →

Whether it’s the electric motor to the combustion engine or cryptocurrency to currencies, every industry seems to have a disruptor – perhaps we’ve found one in FIDIC for the construction industry and its re-imagining of the use of liquidated damages (LDs) in the soon-to-be published Green Book. The special pre-release version of the new edition … Continue reading FIDIC the disruptor: Liquidated damages to compensate the contractor for employer delay →

2020 is anything but normal. It is rare for there to be any judicial treatment of the ICC Uniform Rules on Demand Guarantees No. 758 (URDG 758) but 2020 has already brought us not one but two cases on its interpretation and applicability. URDG 758 applies to all demand guarantees (commonly performance bonds or advance … Continue reading URDG 758: finally tested and it does what it says on the tin →

In North Midland Building Ltd v Cyden Homes, the Court of Appeal held that parties to a construction contract are free to apportion risk in the event of concurrent delay. For more detail on that case, see my colleague, Alexandra Clough’s blog post, Concurrent affairs: North Midland Building Ltd v Cyden Homes. Cyden (as employer) … Continue reading North Midland Building v Cyden: apportioning risk for concurrent delay in the UAE →

Compared to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, can seem like a poor relation. However, Abu Dhabi is rapidly catching up. In this post I look at three recent developments which show that Abu Dhabi is emerging as a jurisdiction to give Dubai a run for its money. 

Never before have there been so many ways to resolve construction and engineering disputes quickly and flexibly in England and Wales. The Technology and Construction Court (TCC) is piloting two speedier procedures and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has recently launched two quicker arbitration procedures, any of which could challenge the supremacy of … Continue reading Construction and engineering disputes: spoilt for choice →

What did I do before I downloaded my Uber app? I can’t imagine life without it. The latest wave of technology is revolutionising the way construction and engineering projects are managed, and very soon we won’t be able to remember how we lived without it. The importance of keeping site records The current problem is … Continue reading The impact of new technology on construction disputes →

Our previous blog post considered whether JCT bonds were on-demand instruments or guarantees. The issue of bonds and guarantees came up again recently in a slightly different context. Our client asked us to advise on its demand for payment under a “performance bond“. The client explained that the performance bond was an on-demand instrument and … Continue reading On-demand bonds or guarantees: clarity and commercial certainty at last? →