Twerton Mill

/ Case Studies

The recently completed 7,500m2 Twerton Mill development offers 327 premium student living units, located on a site steeped in industrial heritage and within a popular student and local residential area. Built by Midas Construction Limited, the project was commissioned to tackle an accommodation shortage across the city, where the rising student presence has contributed to 67% of population growth within recent years. Based on a challenging site, the use of the JCT 2011 Design and Build contract provided a good balance of cost certainty with…

JCT 2016 – New Features Announced

/ JCT 2016 Edition, JCT Product Updates

With the JCT 2016 Edition due to arrive later this year, commencing with the Minor Works family of contracts in the Summer, a preview of the key changes and features of the 2016 edition was given by JCT chair, Richard Saxon CBE, in a speech at the Olswang Annual Construction Conference in February. Here is an overview from Richard’s speech of the key features of the JCT 2016 Edition: The JCT 2016 Edition will incorporate and update provisions from the JCT Public Sector Supplement relating…

Insolvent Abuse

/ Contractual Issues

Blog author: Peter Hibberd Insolvency of any party on a building project is regrettable and something advisers should look to militate against at pre-tender stage. Pre-contract checks on financial position, current workload and resources are essential prerequisites to entering a construction contract: yet, despite such checks, insolvency remains a possibility. Although insolvency in the industry has fallen slightly over the past year, history shows that, once construction activity picks up, insolvency is likely to increase.Insolvency numbers have been lower because monetary policy has provided financial props…

JCT interviews…Dr Andrew Flood

/ Interviews, Sustainability

In this series we shed some light on some of the key people who are involved with or give their time to support JCT, to ensure that all areas of the construction industry are represented and can contribute to the development of our contracts. We will look at how our interviewees contribute to JCT specifically, and gain their views on JCT’s wider role within the industry. Dr Andrew Flood JCT Council Member, Local Government Association (LGA) Chair, JCT Sustainability Working Group Dr Andrew Flood is…

Is it time for an international JCT contract?

/ Contractual Issues

Blog author: Barry Hembling – Fladgate LLP English language standard form contracts are an appropriate choice for use on international construction projects. This was the conclusion of The Hon. Sir Vivian Ramsey at the 2015 JCT Povey Lecture which considered the international applicability of the cultural and legal concepts of using such contracts abroad. The principal theme of the lecture was that parties may not be able to rely on various terms that might otherwise be implied into contracts when English standard forms are used…

Globalisation – winners and losers

/ Chairman's Blog

Blog author: Richard Saxon CBE, JCT Chairman Construction used to be the most local of industries. Buildings were made from the nearby materials by local craftsmen and master masons. There were no ‘professionals’. As modern materials came in so they were sourced from further afield and professionals emerged to decide how to use them. Whilst bulky materials are expensive to ship, the UK has largely gone over to importing building products, with a major negative balance of payments for manufactured components. For a wide variety…

JCT launches new website and online store

/ Latest News, Press Releases

The Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) has launched a new website and a dedicated online store for customers to access and purchase JCT products. JCT contract users have been able to purchase contracts via the JCT website since 2013, but the success of this service, along with a continued increase in sales of JCT contracts has driven the need for an improved, dedicated store site. The new shop site at www.jctltd.co.uk offers a user-friendly online shopping experience, optimised to work fully across desktop, tablet and mobile…

Judging Panel set for JCT’s most creative student competition to date

/ Education, Skills and Students, Press Releases

The judging panel for the JCT Student Essay Competition 2016 has been announced. The competition offers both support and a creative opportunity for construction students, with a winning prize of £1,000 and runner-up prizes of £250 available. In a change to previous competitions, students are able to present their ideas in any way they wish, be it essay, video, set of designs or drawings, photographic/visual essay – whatever they feel best enables them to present a creative idea on the topics of skills shortages, sustainability,…

Making Good with Rectification Periods

/ Contractual Issues

Blog author: Hugh Saunders – 3PB Do you still talk about the “defects liability period”? So do I, and I don’t blame you because the phrase has been around for so long, even though modern JCT contracts use the term “Rectification Period”. Whatever you call it, problems can arise because although the clauses look quite simple there is actually a number of things going on. First, neither term really describes what the contract actually means; second, on the expiry of the Rectification Period, there is…

Over Payment is Careless

/ Contractual Issues

Blog author: Peter Hibberd Following Galliford Try vs Estura [2015] EWHC412 (TCC), a case concerning summary judgement to enforce the decision of an adjudicator as to payment of an interim application, there were various comments by observers on whether or not the payer has a right to repayment by the contractor on account of an overpayment and speculation as to whether there should be an express term to this effect. JCT Design and Build Contract 2011 (the contract in that case) makes it absolutely clear…