‘Companies working for Crossrail have been fined £1m for three sets of failures, one of which led to the death of a construction worker.’
BBC News, 28th July 2017
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Builders are to be banned by the government from selling houses as leasehold in England and ground rents on flats could be cut to zero following widespread outrage over exploitative contracts.’
The Guardian, 25th July 2017
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘A rogue builder who tricked homeowners out of hundreds of thousands of pounds has today (20th July) been jailed for fraud.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 20th July 2017
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
‘Practical completion is a key concept in any construction project. It has a significant impact on a party’s rights and obligations, and represents a major milestone in the overall project timetable. Under the majority of construction projects, it marks the point at which the clock starts running for the overall transfer of risk from the contractor to the owner.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 30th June 2017
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘The evolution of the CPR in the wake of the Jackson reforms included the well-known introduction of the “menu” of disclosure options at CPR 31.5(7). The net effect was to promote, as appropriate and applicable, a movement away from well-established “standard” disclosure to a more tailored approach. With the accompanying provisions of CPR 31 and its Practice Directions, the new approach to disclosure was designed to force parties (and the courts) to consider disclosure and production (and the best approach to adopt) at a very early stage.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 5th May 2017
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (as amended)(“the Construction Act”) implies terms concerning payment and the right to adjudicate in construction contracts. Despite this Act being primarily concerned with construction contract issues, insolvency practitioners are becoming increasingly familiar with its provisions because of the rights to payment the Act creates. These rights are increasingly being used as a basis to commence insolvency proceedings.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 24th April 2017
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘Every time we think the courts might have given defendants in adjudication enforcement proceedings slightly more latitude in raising their dissatisfaction with an adjudicator’s decision, the court brings us back down to earth with a bump and reminds us that, in fact, no matter how hard done by our clients feel, they will have to “pay now and argue later”, save in the rarest of cases.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 27th March 2017
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘Contractors could become responsible for accounting for VAT on construction labour services that they purchase under plans put forward for consultation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).’
OUT-LAW.com, 27th March 2017
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Amended draft legislation to restrict tax relief for interest payments includes changes to a new ‘public infrastructure’ exemption which will be helpful for infrastructure and real estate companies, according to a tax expert.’
OUT-LAW.com, 21st March 2017
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Judgment in the case of Kersfield Developments (Bridge Road) Ltd v Bray & Slaughter Ltd, handed down on 19 January 2017, is a new authority in the line of case law providing guidance on the provisions governing interim payments in Construction Contracts in the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, as amended (“the Act”).’
Hardwicke Chambers, 2nd February 2017
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘Changes to the Joint Construction Tribunal (JCT) standard form ‘design and build’ contract introduce new uncertainties for contractors around loss and expense claims, an expert has warned.’
OUT-LAW.com, 24th January 2017
Source: www.out-law.com
‘A property development business, a director and a site manager have been ordered to pay more than £55,000 between them after removing historic fixtures in every room of a grade-II listed house in Lincoln without consent.’
Local Government Lawyer, 17th January 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Timothy Taylor Ltd v Mayfair House Corporation & Anor [2016] EWHC 1075 (Ch). It is a commercial property case, but has interesting elements on the way in which building works may be reasonably carried out.’
Nearly Legal, 4th January 2017
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A tribunal has agreed to a property developer’s request to modify a restrictive covenant preventing the use of land for anything other than car parking, even though the developer had already built social housing on the land in breach of that covenant.’
OUt-LAW.com, 6th December 2016
Source: www.out-law.com
‘How can losses incurred from construction & engineering disputes be avoided, asks Paul Lowe.’
New Law Journal, 23rd November 2016
Source: www.newlawjournal.co.uk
‘Two developers have lost their attempt to judicially review Hertfordshire County Council’s grant of planning permission for a recycling site.’
Local Government Lawyer, 10th November 2016
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Alexander Nissen QC’s recent decision in Spartafield Ltd v Penten Group Ltd brings a degree of finality to the long-running dispute between these two parties. It comes after multiple adjudications and previous proceedings in the TCC. Back in March, my colleague Ebony Alleyne discussed what was then the most recent judgment, dealing with the enforcement of an adjudicator’s decision.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 2nd November 2016
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Kilker Projects Ltd v Purton (trading as Richwood Interiors) [2016] EWHC 2616 (TCC)
‘The parties entered into an oral construction contract, to which the Scheme for Construction Contracts (England and Wales) Regulations 1998 (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2011 applied. Following completion of the works, a dispute arose as to the sums due in respect of the final account. In a first adjudication, the adjudicator, having held that no valid “payment notice” or “pay less notice” had been served by the employer, ordered it to pay the “notified sum”, as defined by section 111 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, in respect of the contractor’s final account application. The employer subsequently paid the judgment sum. In a second adjudication, the adjudicator determined the true value of the final account for the works and directed the contractor to repay the employer a sum found to have been overpaid. On the employer’s application to enforce that decision, the contractor contended that adjudicator had not had jurisdiction to determine the dispute because it had been decided in the earlier adjudication.’
WLR Daily, 22nd September 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘A second “valuation” adjudication confirming the value of the final payment due under a construction contract is permissible, the High Court has ruled.’
Out-Law.com, 21st October 2016
Source: www.out-law.com
‘As the deluge of smash and grab adjudications continues to percolate through the construction industry, shrewd contractors are advancing more and more creative legal submissions as a way of reviving interim payment applications that have somewhere gone awry. Twice in the past year, the TCC has been addressed on the issue of whether a contractor can rely on an estoppel to resuscitate an interim application; and in one of those cases, that estoppel was created solely out of the actions of the contract administrator. Although the TCC has yet to fully articulate all of those situations in which the actions of the engineer or contract administrator are capable of giving rise to an estoppel, construction professionals would be wise to exercise a degree of caution and be wary of inadvertently bestowing such rights upon the contractor, much to the detriment of the employer.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 21st July 2016
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
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