REUTERS | Herwig Prammer
January 8, 2010

Ask the team: it’s snowing, so do I get an extension of time?

Contractors need to look carefully at extension of time and loss and expense clauses to see if snow and freezing temperatures entitle them to more time and money.

Adverse weather conditions (again)

Last year, in January and February 2009, parts of the UK suffered from heavy rainfall and flooding. At that time, we looked at whether a contractor could claim time and money under its building or engineering contract, as a result of bad weather. Despite the subsequent publication of Revision 2 2009 to the JCT Standard Building Contract and Design and Build Contract, the comments in that update still stand today. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Jason Lee
January 7, 2010

Time travel – adjudication under the amended Act

In December last year I was granted the unique opportunity to take part in an adjudication, which took place in 2014, sometime after the amendments to the Construction Act 1996 had come into force.

My expert witness, Gary Peters, relied on the “Fagin formula” for loss and expense, while the two main witnesses, Martin Potter and John Riches, traded equally incredible allegations concerning an alleged verbal agreement reached at the Builder’s Cleavage pub after a heavily disputed number of pints of beer. OK, it was only the Adjudication Society’s mock adjudication (organised by Hamish Lal and Emily Busby) and there was some exaggeration for dramatic effect. Continue reading →

REUTERS |
January 6, 2010

Pre-planning appointments: why bother?

Time is money on any construction project and a well drafted pre-planning appointment could save you both.

At the start of a construction project, legal formalities are generally not a priority for the parties, who are more likely to be focused on pre-commencement practicalities, such as selecting the right project team, creating a concept design, preparing a planning application and so on. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Mike Segar
January 4, 2010

Can a party terminate an agreement pending an adjudicator’s decision on whether termination is valid?

Adjudication was originally conceived as a quick and convenient means of resolving disputes during the life of a project. Increasingly, adjudication has become popular as a means of resolving disputes after practical completion.

But what about disputes concerning the termination of the contract itself? Continue reading →

REUTERS | Christian Charisius
January 4, 2010

Not slipping-up on the slip rule

For many months now, we have all been discussing the changes the amendments to the Construction Act 1996 will have on various aspects of adjudication. Most commentators have focused on three things: an end to contract conditions that require one party to pay for the adjudication, regardless of the outcome; the adjudicator’s ability to direct payment of his fees; and the “in writing” rule for construction contracts being a thing of the past. By comparison, the slip rule changes have occupied few column inches and appear to have “slipped by” almost unnoticed. No doubt this is, in part, because there is little to criticise in these proposed changes. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Beawiharta
January 1, 2010

Say hello to the “twenty tens”, wave goodbye to the “noughties”

As TS Eliot wrote (in Little Gidding):

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.”

As one year ends, so another year (and another decade) begins. PLC Construction has been reflecting on events in 2009 and looking forward to 2010. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Sharif Karim
December 29, 2009

December 2009 digest: snow, COP 15 and terrorism insurance

In the bleak midwinter:

“In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, long ago.”

Last month it was exceptional rainfall, this month it was snow and freezing temperatures. Given the weather the country is experiencing, it is no surprise that climate change was on the agenda again, this time with a gathering of world leaders at the Copenhagen summit. Closer to home, we had news of smart meters; zero carbon non-domestic buildings; and the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) published its updated sustainability plan. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Andrew Winning
December 23, 2009

Cases and developments in construction law: 2009

2009 will not, perhaps, be remembered as a ground breaking year in construction law. There has been no single case that has got people talking like, say, Melville Dundas v George Wimpey did, and adjudication-related cases have continued to show that the Technology and Construction Court (TCC) is extremely reluctant to allow parties to avoid the effect of decision on a technicality. Nevertheless, there have been some notable judgments which impact on the field of construction law.
Continue reading →

REUTERS | Fabrizio Bensch
December 22, 2009

A day in the life of…

This week sees the start of the Christmas/new year 2-week shut down on construction sites up and down the country. I suspect lots of construction professionals are not so lucky as those employed on-site.

Everyone is familiar with the ambush scenario in adjudication, especially at holiday time. The courts may be critical (see Coulson J’s comments in Dorchester Hotel v Vivid Interiors), but “at any time” really does mean what it says. I wonder how many notices of adjudication are being prepared as you read this??

Continue reading →

REUTERS | David Bebber
December 22, 2009

Peter Coulson J: He’s only human?

He writes such good judgments. They are so easy to read. Apparently he is never wrong. Certainly, as far as I am aware, the Court of Appeal has never found that he has erred. So it is with some trepidation and hesitation that I suggest that, when it comes to what happens if the payment provisions in a construction contract do not comply with all the relevant provisions of the Construction Act 1996, Coulson J has got it wrong.

Continue reading →