Opinion – Page 627
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Comment
You poor SAP
Few cases in construction have tested the 'satisfactory quality' standard of the Sale and Supply of Goods Act. Here's one, about boilers, that got a bit heated
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Architectural schizophrenia
A conflict sometimes arises between an architect’s duties as employer’s agent and as an independent certifier. But as long as no bias is shown, they can do both
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Closing time
Clear contractual arrangements can save arguments over when practical completion has occurred. But be careful – an overly stingent definition can backfire
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Don't be nice, be fair
Partnership and trust are great, but that's not what contracts are are there to promote. They are there to make sure that people do what they say they will
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Comment
Legal letters
This week, why it can make sense to sign an adjudicator's terms, naming and shaming poor adjudicators, support for Judge Thornton's defence of enforcement and the power of greed
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The unbearable cost of cover
Few tears were shed outside the Square Mile when crisis struck those apparently loathsome insurance companies after 11 September. A year on, though, insurers – in the great tradition of that industry – are passing the burden on to their customers. Now it is construction firms that face ruin as ...
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My Stirling Prize hell
The fashion guru dragooned onto the Stirling Prize panel lifts the lid on the five days of relentless architecture that preceded Saturday's big night
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Prescott takes control
John Prescott's recent changes to regeneration policy have persuaded some that things might really get better for deprived communities. And they might, too …
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Comment
Now even friendlier
Use new formula Adjudication Rules™ from TeCSA, the kinder way to get rid of stubborn, dried in disputes (now comes with 100% enforcement guarantee!)
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Tales you lose
Don't get too smug reading about Jeffrey Archer's latest chiding – his case holds a warning to all of us about the danger of telling porkies and making up evidence
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What's yours is mine
Guidance has been published on what happens when a firm makes a windfall profit by refinancing a PFI. You have been warned …
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Unconscionable temerity
Law and practice on contractors' bonds is tilted in favour of the employers who call on them – which they do, often without good cause. Time for a change
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Invisible pleasures
Medieval builders who died before their cathedrals were finished were lucky, because once a building's built, everything it could be is erased by what it is
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Comment
Step on the accelerator
Sir John Egan did well to get construction to give itself an overhaul. Now his successor, Peter Rogers, needs to get the whole industry moving in the right direction
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We need a New Model PFI
And about bloody time. After five years of obfuscation, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown faced down the unions in Blackpool over the PFI (see news).
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Death by exposure
The state of the professional indemnity insurance market is so bad that firms unlucky enough to be hit by several claims a year may well be ruined