JCT used its annual Construction Industry Parliamentary Reception, hosted at the House of Commons, to update the industry on two areas where it is providing innovation and leadership – BIM and digital contract technology.
The recent publication of JCT’s latest practice note, BIM and JCT Contracts, furthers the understanding of BIM related legal and contractual issues, providing practical, clear guidance to project participants and their professional advisers.
The practice note focuses on the use of BIM with the JCT Design and Build Contract (DB), as the most popular form of contract on projects employing BIM. It includes a commentary pointing out provisions that may be most impacted by or relevant to a project using BIM and gives guidance on preparing and incorporating a BIM Protocol.
The reception, hosted by Eddie Hughes MP, was also an opportunity for JCT to share its developments in digital contract technology and its two digital services, JCT On Demand and JCT Construct.
JCT On Demand enables users to purchase a digital version of a JCT contract and complete the contract in a secure online environment using an intuitive Q&A process. Many of JCT’s best-selling forms are already available in this digital format.
JCT Construct builds on this by offering a feature-rich digital subscription service. It includes advanced editing features, enabling users to add their own customised text, as well as other functionality, such as guest sharing for collaborative working, and version-to-version comparison. Attendees at the reception were able to view a video summary, showing the highlights and core functionality of the service.
JCT Construct is currently in its trial stage and notice of its release will be announced to users who are signed up to the JCT Network.
Both services are set up in a secure, flexible online environment that makes working with JCT contracts easy for users. Comparison documents, which are output with drafts and final versions make it easy to see the changes from the published JCT text, ensuring full transparency.
JCT chair, Richard Saxon CBE, said:
“JCT was the first contract authoring body to provide specific guidance on BIM and construction contracts, with the publication of its first BIM practice note in 2016, along with integrating specific BIM provisions into the 2016 Edition of JCT Contracts.
“We are delighted to be able to build on this success with the release of our latest practice note, BIM and JCT Contracts which helps to demystify BIM and to provide guidance to users working with JCT contracts who want to incorporate BIM into their contractual processes successfully.
“We are also focused on providing leadership and innovation digitally, with the release of our new digital contract services, JCT On Demand and JCT Construct. Many users have already benefitted from the convenience and ease-of-use of JCT On Demand, and we are pleased soon to be able to offer even more functionality and useful online drafting tools with our JCT Construct service.”
Image (l-r): Nick Deeming (JCT vice chair and chair of JCT BIM Working Group), Nikola Evans (JCT technical author), Richard Saxon CBE (JCT chair), Andrew Croft, May Winfield, David-John Gibbs (principal authors, BIM and JCT Contracts)