Construction Law

Construction Law

Construction Law Summer School: Your last week for savings

Construction Law Summer School: Your last week for savings
 11th – 13th September 2012 – Downing College, Cambridge, UK

Book by this Friday for the best rates – plus get an extra 10% discount courtesy of CMguide.org!

Don’t miss this opportunity for your team to get a detailed, intensive guide on all the most important topics in international construction and engineering law.  A unique and comprehensive learning experience; comprising presentations, group discussions, case studies, debates, a workshop and evening networking activities. …

Construction Law, Contract Administration

Delay and extensions of time in construction contracts

Delay – what is the common law position? Why is a completion date needed?
If no agreement is reached on the time within which a service must be performed, it only needs to be performed within a reasonable time. Whilst this may be workable in the context of, say, a contract for the delivery of a new washing machine, it is not satisfactory when applied to something as complex as a construction project. …

Construction Law, Contract Administration

Liquidated damages clauses in construction contracts

Most forms of building contract include a clause entitling the Client to a specified level of damages, referred to as “Liquidated Damages” or “Liquidated and Ascertained Damages” if the Contractor is late in handing over the building. LADs replace the Client’s common law right to damages for late completion with a contractual right to a pre-determined sum for the period of delay. …

Construction Law

Interpreting legal terms

By HUGH MURRAY and Joanne Emerson Taqi

THE use of some legal phrases in contract documentation or correspondence is considered, by most, as commonplace. However, it is important to ensure that such phrases are properly understood.
Misunderstanding such terminology, particularly when the interpretation of some key terms can differ depending on whether the words are in a document governed by English law or by another law, can potentially affect the efficacy of the commercial bargain. …

Construction Law, Contract Administration

Procurement in Abu Dhabi

By KATIE LISZKA and NAZLI OKUSLUK

ABU DHABI Law No 6 of 2008 (procurement law), which governs the procurement of materials, service contracts and works contracts in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, aims to decentralise, modernise, simplify and facilitate procurement by government departments. It grants the Department of Finance the authority to issue a manual to execute the provisions of the law, pursuant to which the department issued the Purchases, Tenders and Bids Manual in 2008 (manual). This manual sets out provisions, policies and procedures in respect of tenders for purchasing materials, services contracts and executing works and bids, in addition to the terms and policies related to electronic tenders and purchases.ScopeWithout prejudice to the provisions of Law No 21 of 2006 regarding construction contracts and agreements in the field of civil works, the procurement law and the manual are in principle applicable to all government departments and agencies funded under the general budget of Abu Dhabi and apply to all contracts, except for the following:

Construction Law, Contract Administration

JCT and ICE Payment Certificates under Scrutiny

The Process

The Certification process in the construction industry has been in place for many a long year and is an integral part of both building and civil engineering. It involves client, consultant, main contractor and subcontractor alike. The very existence of large numbers of companies who make their living in the construction industry depend upon the certification process. On many standard forms of main contract the contractor is entitled to be paid the sum which is certified by the Architect, Engineer or Contract Administrator. Main contractors in an effort to ensure that they do not finish up paying out more than they receive link the payment under the subcontract to the amount certified under the main contract. …

Construction Law, Contract Administration

I Thought You’d Never Notice: The Civil Code and the Red Book

By Nick Kramer
Red Book
For all its innovation and spectacular achievements, the construction industry in the United Arab Emirates has been slow to move on from its close relationship with the International Federation of Consulting Engineers Red Book (fourth edition). The Red Book was superseded years ago, and it is little used outside the Gulf region any more. …

Construction Law, Contract Administration

Contemporary records

It is not often that I will get the opportunity to report a case from the Falkland Islands Supreme Court, but the case of Attorney General for the Falkland Islands -v- Gordon Forbes Construction deals with a point of general interest in the management of claims.

Forbes had entered into a contract with the Falkland Islands government for the construction of the infrastructure of the East Stanley Housing Development in the Falkland Islands. The contract was based upon the FIDIC Conditions of Contract for Works of Civil Engineering Construction, 4th Edition.

Construction Law, Contract Administration

Can disputes be settled like gentlemen?

By Dr Chandana Jayalath

In Qatar’s public works, the employer and the engineer mostly operate as the same entity, although they are two different entities in the strict contractual sense.

As such, the dispute clause, which is available in any typical infrastructure project in Qatar, generally considers both the employer and the engineer as one party to the dispute. This may be why the dispute clause talks about disputes between employer or engineer and the contractor. …

Construction Law, Contract Administration

Time At Large

Whenever there is delay in a construction project, parties immediately look to the liquidated damages clause. This is understandable, as the Contractor carries the risk of delay resulting from events for which it is responsible, and that risk is usually quantified by the provision of liquidated damages.
However, where such events are caused by an act or omission by the Employer, the Employer bears the risk. In such event, unless there is a clear mechanism for extending the time for completion, the Employer’s right to levy liquidated damages will fall away.
It is for this reason that most standard form contracts usually provide for an extension of time mechanism which allows for the time for completion to be extended upon an event of prevention or impediment by the Employer. The purpose is primarily to enable the Employer to protect its right to potential liquidated damages in the event of its own default. …

Construction Law, Contract Administration

FIDIC’s Middle Eastern Contract Users’ conference returns for a 3rd year!

This is your annual opportunity to get best practice advice on using the FIDIC contracts and updates on the contract changes and amendments – directly from the very people who drafted them!

Get a 10% discount with VIP code: FKW82257CMGP1 – and if you book by the end next Thursday 15th December you’ll get the lowest early bird prices as well. …

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