JCT members and guests from across the construction industry gathered to celebrate the success of JCT’s latest edition of contracts, JCT 2024, at its annual Construction Industry Parliamentary Reception, on Friday 7 June 2024.
The JCT 2024 Edition launched back in April, when the first contract family from the suite, the Design and Build Contract 2024, was released.
This was followed by the Minor Works Building Contract 2024, the Short Form of Sub-contract, Sub-subcontract, and the Model Administration Forms for both DB 2024 and MW 2024.
Further contract families and supporting documents will continue to be rolled out over the course of the year.
The JCT 2024 Edition included a number of updates and changes, aligned with the themes of ‘modernising and streamlining’, ‘legislative updates’, ‘new for JCT 2024’, and ‘future proofing’.
Key amongst the changes included legislative updates covering the Building Safety Act 2022 (and Part 2A of the Building Regulations), Termination accounting and payment provisions, and the addition of new insolvency grounds.
The edition has been modernised by introducing gender neutral language, added provisions and guidance on the use of electronic communication, and improved Extension of Time provisions.
A new contract family, JCT Target Cost Contract 2024, including main contract, sub-contract, and guide, will be added to the suite.
The contracts have provided future proofing measures, particularly in their closer alignment with the objectives of the Construction Playbook, by making three previously supplemental provisions relating to Collaborative Working, Sustainable Development and Environmental Consideration, and Notification and Negotiation of Disputes, mandatory.
JCT chair, Karen Kirkham, who gave a welcome address at the event, said:
“It is a great pleasure to welcome guests from across the construction industry to acknowledge the achievements of our members with the success of JCT 2024.
“The preparation of each edition of JCT contracts takes an incredible amount of work and the expertise of all involved with JCT is vital to ensure that the requirements of the industry are reflected, that best practice is maintained, and that all those procuring construction works can depend on the reliability and robustness of our contracts.”