Legal issues and construction law

Rolling out project bank accounts in JCT contracts

2022-05-06T06:00:00+01:00By John Riches

Project bank account provisions are now available for all JCT contract suites – improving cash flow through the industry

Case in focus: Avantage (Cheshire) Ltd vs GB Building Solutions Ltd

2022-05-03T06:00:00+01:00By Ted Lowery

An unsuccessful application for reverse summary judgment

Home extension is building too

2022-04-27T05:00:00+01:00By Tony Bingham

It’s time to bring domestic dwelling disputes within the adjudication provisions of the Construction Act – this is getting crazy

In praise of common sense in litigation

2022-04-01T06:00:00+01:00By Tony Bingham

When an adjudicator resigned for pretty sound reasons, the referring party was remarkably determined to avoid paying his bill

Force majeure in the context of war

2022-03-31T05:00:00+01:00By Angus Rankin

What contractual clauses may apply where the Ukraine war has detrimentally affected a construction project, whether directly or indirectly?

How will the war in Ukraine affect materials supply?

2022-03-11T07:01:00+00:00By Roberta Downey1 comments

Renewed disruption to global supply chains will require construction firms to take mitigatory steps

Legal abroad: Doing business in Chile

2022-03-04T05:00:00+00:00By Alejandro Lopez Ortiz and Marcelo Richter

Our series on foreign jurisdictions: green infrastructure opportunities must be weighed against the uncertainties of a new political direction

Beware the new biodiversity burden for developers

2022-03-01T05:00:00+00:00By Jason Towell

Requiring all new schemes to provide a net gain in biodiversity will add cost and complexity

A key ruling on payment claim time bars

2022-02-28T05:00:00+00:00By Alice Stacey-Jacobs and Aileen Brown

Hirst vs Dunbar considered whether the Construction Act’s payment provisions affect the limitation period for payment claims

Please stop arguing with the arbitrator

2022-02-25T07:00:00+00:00By Tony Bingham

The courts are pushing back against losers’ attempts to challenge arbitration rulings on dubious procedural grounds

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SNC-Lavalin arm pleads guilty to Libya fraud

2019-12-20T06:00:00+00:00By Jordan Marshall

Subsidiary of Canadian firm which owns Atkins fined more than £160m

Number of High Court disputes jumps again

2019-12-06T06:00:00+00:00By Tom Lowe

Carillion collapse blamed as annual figure heads towards 400 mark

Camden council makes £130m High Court claim against tower block contractors

2019-12-02T06:00:00+00:00By Alice Lorenzato-Lloyd

Legal action centres on Chalcots Estate evacuation in June 2017

Willmott Dixon and Hackney row over defects on resi block

2019-09-04T05:00:00+01:00By Hamish Champ

Contractor’s housing arm Willmott Partnership Homes disputes ‘many’ of council’s claims

Second law firm begins action over Lendlease share fall

2019-08-13T05:00:00+01:00By Dave Rogers, Jordan Marshall

Price plunge triggered by woes at engineering business

HS2 faces crunch ruling on Old Oak Common start date

2019-07-18T05:00:00+01:00By Jordan Marshall

Railway will hear in September whether challenge by Bechtel will stop it awarding job to Balfour Beatty team

Heathrow beats challenge against third runway

2019-05-01T11:47:00+01:00By Jordan Marshall

Twenty-one of the 26 claims were deemed to be unarguable

HS2 procurement blunders have cost us £100m, Bechtel says

2019-04-25T05:00:00+01:00By Jordan Marshall1 comments

US giant goes to court after £1.1bn Old Oak station job awarded to Balfour Beatty team

Competition watchdog accuses groundworks product firms of colluding

2019-04-09T09:35:00+01:00By Jordan Marshall

VP, MGF and Mabey have provisionally been found to have been operating a cartel

Liverpool Chinatown contractor banned from running businesses

2019-03-08T06:00:00+00:00By Jordan Marshall

Director of company responsible for developing Liverpool’s Chinatown has been disqualified for seven years

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The coronavirus crisis: What does it all mean?

2020-03-18T06:00:00+00:00By Dave Rogers, Yolande Barnes, Simon Tolson

The implications of covid-19 for construction, housing and legal

Brexit and construction law: Changing times

2017-06-23T06:00:00+01:00By Al Watson, Jill Carey, Clare Harman-Clark

One year on from the EU referendum, nobody knows how a post-Brexit world will look

Interview: Richard Saxon

2016-08-04T06:00:00+01:00By Francis Ho

Richard Saxon, chair of the Joint Contracts Tribunal, speaks to Building legal columnist Francis Ho about new kinds of contracts, the competition, and where he thinks the industry is heading

Crossing the line

2015-08-28T07:00:00+01:00By Roxane McMeeken

With the Calais crisis still a hot media topic, the government is on the warpath against construction companies employing illegal workers. But is the sector doing enough to make sure it doesn’t get caught out?

Procurement on trial

2014-08-22T06:00:00+01:00By Joey Gardiner1 comments

Construction firms are increasingly emboldened to take the government to court over its procurement decisions, but who’s to blame?

Museum of Liverpool: Nightmare at the museum

2013-08-08T00:00:00+01:00By Joey Gardiner

The £72m Museum of Liverpool may have opened in 2011, but problems with the design and build mean parts of the iconic building are still inaccessible to the public. Last week’s £1.13m court judgment highlights the dangers for small consultants on big projects

Insurance special report: BIM

2012-10-26T00:00:00+01:00By Roxane McMeeken

The rise of collaboration software has created a lot of questions for insurers - not least how to divide up and assign blame if anything goes wrong

Costly legal disputes: Everyone's a loser

2012-06-15T00:00:00+01:00By Emily Wright

The amount spent on legal disputes has jumped by a third in the UK over the past year. Why are construction firms still so keen to spend on litigation?

Sparks fly: The row over electricians' wage agreements

2012-01-04T10:30:00+00:00By Iain Withers

The decision of seven major M&E contractors to break away from the 40-year-old JIB wage agreement was prompted by an ‘urgent need to modernise’ but has already led to angry clashes between workers and police. Building reports on a row that threatens to become the sector’s biggest industrial relations dispute ...

Hackney Empire vs Aviva Insurance: The Empire strikes back

2011-07-15T00:00:00+01:00By Iain Withers

This is the tale of a theatre project, backed by Lord Sugar, that landed its client with a £3.2m headache. Now eight years on there’s a legal battle over a bond between the insurer and the theatre owner

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