It is with great regret that we have to report the sad death on 20 April of long term Construction Law columnist Michael Thurston Phipps, who has provided the Contracts Monitor column for 20 years (Obituary: The Times, 7 May 2019 and “Readers’ Lives”, The Times 25 May 2019).
Michael, an 87 year old civil engineering graduate of Imperial College, Class of ’55, and active Royal Academician, had a long and distinguished career in construction, at various times owning his own marine contracting business and running his contracts consultancy business Thurston Consultants.
Michael had been working on a guide to the JCT contracts when he died. This would have been an update on a similar guide written in the 1980s which sold hundreds of copies and was credited with saving contractors substantial sums.
His close analysis of contracts is unlikely to be capable of being produced by anyone else, so this month’s Contracts Monitor will be the last of its kind. Michael’s final article is published in this edition of Construction Law, the 200th in the series. Not one deadline was missed in 20 years, a significant achievement in itself.
Donations in his memory to either the Sue Ryder Day Centre at Wokingham Hospital or the Macular Society, c/o David Greedy Funeral Director, 220 Duke’s Ride, Crowthorne, Berkshire RG45 6DS.