Civil servants to displace consultants

We never seem to be very far away from a promised procurement shake up in central government, and no sooner is one initiative announced than it seems another is upon us. Against that busy background, however, recent weeks have seen an unusually high level of activity.

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A rare sighting

In the latest of our alternative dispute resolution series Paul Morgan of Clyde & Co reports on a rare insight into the workings of arbitration provided by an unusual court case.

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What is an indemnity?

The concept of indemnity underlies property insurance policies and should be straightforward but often is not, as John D Wright of JD Risk Associates explains.

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Procurement strategies – a realistic review

There is a wide and still growing range of procurement methods in common use by the construction industry and its clients, says Professor Peter Hibberd of the Joint Contracts Tribunal. In this review he warns that the government’s Construction Strategy may have unexpected impacts.

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Recent cases on the rules of natural justice

Few challenges to the enforcement of adjudicators’ decisions succeed and the courts take a dim view of challenges based on technical defects, even where these exist. Ann Levin and Michael Mendelblat of Herbert Smith review recent cases involving appeals to natural justice.

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Putting limits on limitation

In this review of limitation Ruth Wilkinson of Dundas & Wilson warns that working out when a limitation period expires is seldom straightforward. A recent case now being appealed provides some guidance on how the courts view very short contractual limitation periods.

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LOGIC based oil and gas contracts

Hamish Lal of Jones Day examines the time bar clauses of some standard contracts in common use for marine construction. Those used to NEC3 and FIDIC forms will find significant differences.

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Concurrent delay and the prevention principle

The issue of concurrent delay has been brought to the fore by the Scottish case of City Inn v Shepherd Construction. Andrew Croft of Beale and Company analyses three recent English cases dealing with concurrent delay and the prevention principle.

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Change or pay the price

Contracts monitor Michael Phipps, Principal of Thurston Consultants, continues his scrutiny of the JCT Standard Building Contract With Quantities 2011. Behaving in old, familiar ways will give rise to costly disputes, he warns.

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Reports from the courts: January 2012

Our regular round up of the court decisions of most significance for construction from Will Buckby of Beale and Company focuses on the first reported judgment in relation to an adjudicator’s entitlement to fees where a decision has been held to be unenforceable as a result of a breach of the rules of natural justice.

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