Defective Premises Act 1972: A new dawn for historic claims.

The Building Safety Act has extended limitation periods for claims under the Defective Premises Act. Stephanie Geesink and Dom Turner-Harriss of Watson Farley & Williams LLP examine the attitude of the courts to parties attempting to tack onto ongoing proceedings new claims that were previously time barred.

This story is only available to subscribers to the printed edition of Construction Law. If you have a subscription please log in to read the rest of the story.

The Tort of Nuisance – the categories are not closed

Chris Bryden of 4 King’s Bench Walk and Georgia Whiting, Legal Counsel at the Ardmore Group, consider a Supreme Court decision that provides a general restatement of the fundamental principles of the law of nuisance, in a follow up to their previous article on the Court of Appeal decision in the same case.

This story is only available to subscribers to the printed edition of Construction Law. If you have a subscription please log in to read the rest of the story.

Contract management – best practices to limit the risk of disputes

Guillaume A Hess of King & Spalding argues that best practice in contract management is essential for successful administration of projects, but also to minimise the risk of disputes arising. In the first of a two part series, he warns that there is no one size fits all approach.

This story is only available to subscribers to the printed edition of Construction Law. If you have a subscription please log in to read the rest of the story.

Contract terms criticised by tree felling inquiry

Amey found itself embroiled in a long running dispute over a tree felling programme that an inquiry says it partly caused through the terms of a contract that it signed. The experience suggests that risk management needs to consider the impact of works on local feelings.

This story is only available to subscribers to the printed edition of Construction Law. If you have a subscription please log in to read the rest of the story.

The Construction Leadership Council: a busted flush or a potent force for change?

Set against its own targets the Construction Leadership Council’s performance has been inadequate and it fails to address the issue that fundamental and radical changes in construction procurement and payment are needed, argues Professor Rudi Klein of Klein Legal who suggests looking to Singapore for pointers to the way forward.

This story is only available to subscribers to the printed edition of Construction Law. If you have a subscription please log in to read the rest of the story.

Insuring the Design Risk – a minefield for all parties

Insurance expert John D Wright of JD Risk Associates examines how claims relating to design issues are resolved. Design risk is a minefield for all concerned, but particularly the insurers, he explains.

This story is only available to subscribers to the printed edition of Construction Law. If you have a subscription please log in to read the rest of the story.

“Merchants of peace” in our global supply chains

Our latest Alternative Dispute Resolution series article comes from Tracey Summerell of Dentons UK and Middle East who salutes the International Chamber of Commerce’s 100 year contribution to dispute prevention.

This story is only available to subscribers to the printed edition of Construction Law. If you have a subscription please log in to read the rest of the story.

New and proposed legislation: State of play table 278

This table, prepared by Barrett Byrd Associates, provides a regularly amended guide to new and proposed legislation that will affect the construction industry. In addition to EU Directives and UK legislation, the table includes notes highlighting discussion papers issued by both government and non-government organisations, and commentary on the latest developments.

This story is only available to subscribers to the printed edition of Construction Law. If you have a subscription please log in to read the rest of the story.

Legal terms explained: Relational contracts

What is a relational contract? Whilst there is no universally accepted definition of a ‘relational contract’, the decision in Bates v Post Office Limited (No 3: Common Issues) [2019] EWHC 606 (QB) sets out the following non-exhaustive list of ‘special characteristics’ that would be relevant to determining whether a contract is a relational one:

This story is only available to subscribers to the printed edition of Construction Law. If you have a subscription please log in to read the rest of the story.

Firm fined £2.3m after pipeline leak

A pipeline contractor has been given one of the biggest fines ever for Health and Safety breaches after a two week trial. Exolum Pipeline Systems were fined £2.3 million after pleading not guilty to charges relating to exposing workers to serious danger.

To read more of this and every other news story on this site, please log in with your Construction Law membership account details. If you don't have an account, you can get free access to the news on this site and receive a free newsletter on Fridays by creating a Newsletter account. See the panel to the right.

Subscribers to the printed magazine get access to the entire Construction law website.

+ More