Show/Hide Tags

Construction Risks Newsletter | March 2022's Tags

Tags related to this article

Construction Risks Newsletter | March 2022

Published 31 March 2022

Welcome to the March 2022 issue of the DAC Beachcroft Construction Risks Newsletter.

Our quarterly newsletter continues to illustrate how busy the Construction Courts are. Whether it is related to Covid, Brexit, the economy and or what is happening in Ukraine – or a combination of all - there is no respite for the Courts. Certainly we are also seeing the number of disputes going forward to adjudication and arbitration increasing too. Next month we will provide an update in relation to the Building Safety Bill, which in itself will be a sea-change in the industry, however the Courts have continued to provide useful day to day guidance on how they will seek to interpret agreements and resolve disputes. In this edition we will review

The importance of communicating with sub-contractors and ensuring contracts are in place
When the Court refuses to enforce an Adjudicator's Awards,
When is there a subcontract and what will the Courts look at?
When an earlier adjudicator's decisions and arbitrators' awards has been made, how that might be interpreted.
Finally how AI may impact the industry with the use of Smart contracts.

Bravejoin Company Ltd v Propserity Moseley Street Ltd [2021] EWHC 3598 (TCC) (13 Dec 2021)

This case is a helpful reminder to employers and sub-contractors as to crystallisation of disputes. It also serves as cautionary tale to employers to be careful about communications with sub-contractors if the contractual situation has not been finalised.

Court of Appeal guidance regarding “pure omissions” claims for professional negligence

The Court of Appeal has recently handed down the decision in Rushbond plc v The JS Design Partnership LLP [2021] EWCA Civ 1889, which provides useful guidance on the duty of care owed by one party to another where a third party causes damage to one of the party’s property.

Application to enforce an adjudicator's decision failed

The recent decision in Cubex (UK) Limited v Balfour Beatty Group Limited [2021] EWHC 3445 (TCC) is an example of when the Court will refuse to enforce an Adjudicator’s Award. A key factor in this decision was the type of works being carried out and whether these were in fact “construction operations”.

When is there a subcontract?

In the recent decision in Changing Climates Limited v Warmaway Limited [2021] EWHC 3117 (TCC) the Court found that a construction contract existed between two sub-contractors. The Court held that there was a course of dealings and there was an entitlement to enforcement.

John Graham Construction Limited (In Liquidation) v Technicas Reunidas UK Ltd - importance of earlier adjudicators’ decisions / arbitrators’ awards?

This case provides useful guidance on how the Courts will seek to interpret previous Decisions and Awards..

Smart legal contracts - are they for construction industry?

A smart contract is a computer program (i.e. a set of instructions in the form of code) which runs automatically, in whole or in part, without human intervention. A smart legal contract is simply a smart contract where the code also includes a binding legal contract.

Visit our Construction Risks Collection. This space is used to report upon issues of interest to those who seek to allocate, manage and reduce construction risks on behalf of contractors, as well as insurers of construction risks.