In the sixth first instance decision in the long-running dispute of Imperial Chemical Industries Limited (“ICI”) v Merit Merrell Technology Limited (“MMT”) the court assessed the quantum disputes between the parties. In an extensive judgment, the court considered a wide […]

A contracting party commits a repudiatory breach of contract when it commits a breach so serious that the innocent party is deprived of substantially all the benefit of the contract. This allows the innocent party to accept the repudiatory breach, […]

NEC3 contracts, with their emphasis on proactive contract management, require compensation events to be valued using forecasts of the cost of the additional work. However, it is often the case that the compensation event procedure is not operated properly and […]

The NEC publishers have just announced the publication of the NEC4 suite of contracts in June 2017. NEC have described the new NEC4 suite as building upon the content of NEC3 in a way which can be described as “evolution […]

It is common for contracting parties to depart from the strict terms of their contract for their own convenience. However, as demonstrated in the recent case of Mears Limited v Shoreline Housing Partnership Limited, adopting alternative arrangements to those set […]

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (“CDM 2015”) come into force on 6 April 2015. With effect from that date, the current Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (“CDM 2007”) are being repealed and will no longer apply. It […]

It is widely known that the NEC3 compensation event process includes a requirement for compensation events to be notified within a specific timescale, failing which, entitlement to the compensation event in question is lost. However, the important exception to this […]

Construction and engineering projects are often complex, so it is inevitable that construction and engineering contracts will include a number of different documents setting out the requirements and specifications for the project. These contract documents will often run into hundreds […]

Although the NEC3 suite of contracts is pitched as being simple and easy to understand, the NEC3 compensation event process is detailed, procedurally complex and full of potential traps for unwary Contractors. Properly managing the compensation event process requires considerable […]

With their popular ethos of flexibility, simplicity and clarity, NEC3 contracts are featuring more and more on construction projects around the UK. However, for the most part, NEC3 contracts are not as comprehensively written as other standard forms of construction […]