JCT’s Construction Industry Parliamentary Reception, celebrating the success of the release of the JCT 2016 Edition of Contracts was held yesterday (5th May 2017) at the House of Commons, London.
Since its launch, the JCT 2016 Edition has been welcomed positively by the industry, with an unprecedented level of sales through the JCT online store, www.jctltd.co.uk.
Victoria Peckett, chair of JCT’s Drafting Sub-Committee and head of construction at CMS-Cameron McKenna LLP, addressed guests, identifying three main areas that were important in the creation of the JCT 2016 Edition and its success:
“One [area] is best practice, the second is dealing with feedback from users and making the contracts as user friendly as we can, and the third is dealing with legislative changes.”
Victoria outlined some of the key changes under these three main areas that form the 2016 Edition, including:
- Incorporating Fair Payment principles throughout the suite.
- Adding operative provisions to allow for people to call for Parent Company Guarantees and Bonds.
- Providing a model form of particulars for the requirements of Collateral Warranties and Third Party Rights.
- Improving the insurance previsions, particularly those around the insurance of existing structures.
- Streamlining and consolidating the payment and insurance provisions so that the logical flow is more orderly and they are easier to follow.
- Incorporating the CDM 2015 Regulations changes into the suite.
- Including provisions that demonstrate compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, providing security and confidence to public sector users.
- Including the BIM provisions from the JCT Public Sector Supplement 2015, allowing for the inclusion of a BIM Protocol where it is used as a contract document and amending the provisions dealing with information flow to enable the BIM Protocol to operate where it is being used.
As well as talking about features within the 2016 Edition, Victoria outlined some of the potential areas of focus for JCT in the future:
“We recognise the increasing importance of looking at assets on a whole life-cycle basis, so we are considering the production of a standard form facilities management contract. We are also looking at the possibility of creating standard form Parent Company Guarantees and Bonds to stand alongside the operative provisions [in the 2016 Edition].
“And […]we’re going to start work on the next edition. So JCT welcomes any feedback you might have on what we currently have and areas where you might like to see changes so we can take that into account.”
Guests were welcomed to the reception by JCT chair, Richard Saxon CBE, who as well as reflecting on the success of the 2016 Edition, was also keen to point to the future.
Richard Saxon CBE said:
“I will just mention that the completion of the [2016] Edition only starts the road to the next one. Things are already coming in which will form the in-tray of the group considering what the next one will be.”