More Comment – Page 740
-
Comment
More punishment, please
Melinda Parisotti alarms contractors and consultants unnecessarily in her rticle "Pleasure and punishment" (4 April, page 48).
-
Comment
Oral promise? It's just talk
This was an appeal to the House of Lords in respect of the applicability of the doctrine of estoppel to guarantees, themselves governed by Section 4 of the Statute of Frauds 1677. Saint-Gobain had retained the First Defendant (“Inglen”) as the main contractor for the construction of ...
-
Comment
Decision dodgers
Contractual disputes are getting bogged down in phoney challenges to the adjudicator's authority and spurious arguments about enforcement
-
Comment
Premature adjudication
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and entrances – and heaven help them if they get the timing wrong
-
Comment
Not a holiday camp
A decade after it was launched, journalists have finally been given their first glimpse of Britain's biggest and most awesome building project, Heathrow Terminal 5. There's not much to see yet – just a few cranes and the odd dumper truck rumbling through the dirt (pages 24-27). But this is ...
-
Comment
America's playground
Was the war against Saddam undertaken to liberate Iraq for the Iraqi people, or to liberate Iraqi assets for US capitalism? The signs so far are rather ominous
-
Comment
Following Foster
If you want to build the next Reichstag, you'll need to be aware of Germany's planning and building laws and how they vary between the federal states
-
Comment
Getting what you deserve
Why are parties so willing to open themselves up to trouble by beginning work without agreeing a price? A recent quantum meruit case serves as a warning
-
Comment
Calling like-minded lawyers
I read with interest Colin Harding's article "A paradise for parasites" (21 March, page 37). I write as a lawyer who has been involved in PFI deals in the industry (for Carillion and Bechtel) and in private practice with a firm fully committed to Rethinking Construction.Although lawyers, among other advisers, ...
-
Comment
Safe, unless you're cooking
We would like to respond to your leader in the 14 March issue. Although we are aware of the recent court ruling in respect to the Sahib Foods fire in 1994, it would be wrong to assume that the specification of combustible composite panels will automatically create a problem for ...
-
Comment
Read the instructions
Tony Bingham's article "Never trust a copper" (21 March, page 59) raises the issue of low water draw-off, which we feel deserves comment.Many thousands of copper pipework installations are made each year, including those in properties that will use water sporadically (show homes, for instance), and there are very few ...
-
Comment
Designing for imbeciles
The UK's regulations assume a high level of human stupidity, says Barry Munday – plus Stewart McColl tells of a clash between money and morality
-
Comment
The risks of going to court
The claimant, Mr Islam, sought remuneration in respect of his services as the chartered accountant during the period May 1999 to July 2001, when he ran the defendant Mrs Ali's late husband's accountancy business. He had received around £72,000 for part of this period and sought about a further £84,000, ...
-
Comment
Leading the evolution
To all appearances, little has changed since the last Building Awards a year ago.
-
Comment
An offer you can refuse?
Refuse an offer to mediate and you could end up paying the costs of litigation, win or lose. But what if that offer of mediation was just a tactical ploy?
-
Comment
Know your onions
Tony Bingham Here's another take on the controversial case of the architect who got sued after specifying the wrong panels, despite the client's giving false information
-
Comment
No records, no claim
This was an application by the attorney general for the Falkland Islands (on behalf of the Islands' government) for the determination of a preliminary point of law in arbitration proceedings. Gordon Forbes and the government entered into a FIDIC fourth edition contract in 1997 to carry out some building works. ...
-
Comment
Bombs on a budget
This week, our attentions shift to the damage that the war is causing on the home front (pages 22-23). It would be a cruel irony if investment in public services was halted to pay for Iraq just when the contracts are starting to flow. But nobody is under any illusions ...