News

New guide published to aid project delivery

Britain’s public spending watchdog has published a good practice guide to help project managers better understand the challenges of delivering large schemes. The National Audit Office's new document called ‘Delivery Environment Complexity Analytic’ sets out 12 factors it says need to be understood and managed effectively to ensure successful delivery of a project, programme or policy.

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Improved carbon reporting urged to de-risk projects

Accurate emissions reporting must become integral in the design of major infrastructure to help entice greater private finance into green projects, the sector has been warned. Schemes may also risk litigation for failing to mitigate the release of carbon.

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Sector embraces pledge to maintain infrastructure spending

Construction lawyers and the industry have broadly welcomed Government’s plans for infrastructure spending – set out in last week’s Autumn Statement – which include a commitment not to cut from capital budgets.

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West Yorkshire company fined after fatal skylight fall

Davis Industrial Roofing of Wakefield has been fined £20,000 and its sole director given a suspended prison sentence after a subcontractor was killed when he fell 12 metres through a skylight.

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Contracts guidance marks step towards outlawing retentions

Construction lawyers have welcomed new guidance on the use of retention clauses under NEC forms of contract, which emphasises that a retention fund may not always be required on projects. However they question the value of proposed alternative protections for clients, particularly on smaller schemes.

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Adjudication enforced in £22.5m water treatment facility dispute

Tilbury Douglas Construction and Doosan Enpure have been ordered to pay a water company almost £22.5 million after failing in an attempt to challenge a prior adjudication in a dispute arising from problems on a water treatment facility project in Northumberland.

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Chipboard firm fined over £2m for ‘preventable’ worker death

A manufacturer of wooden chipboard used commonly in the construction industry has been fined over £2 million after safety failings led to the death of an employee in Scotland, which “could have been prevented” according to prosecutors.

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Construction industry playbook takes aim at poor productivity

Greater collaboration, longer term contracting and fairer allocation of risk on projects are among the key principles of a private sector construction ‘playbook’ published by a cohort of businesses to help tackle “stagnant” productivity in the sector. Lawyers have welcomed the document.

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Grenfell inquiry hears of a culture of ‘blame shifting and defensiveness’

Organisations with an involvement in the Grenfell Tower prior to its devastating fire in 2017 have been roundly criticised during closing statements of the Inquiry. Counsel to the Inquiry, Richard Millett KC described a culture of “dissociation, blame-shifting and defensiveness” by many “to cover up incompetence, lack of skill and experience, false and unverified assumptions, and plain carelessness or lack of engagement”.

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Room for improvement in construction adjudication

Adjudication continues to be an effective dispute resolution method in the construction sector, according to a new report. But suspicions of bias by practitioners in the eyes of some parties risk undermining its perceived legitimacy, while a lack of diversity among adjudicators is also highlighted as a cause for concern.

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