“What’s under the JCT’s bonnet?” asked one of our legal columnists last week in a review of one of the new contracts, which is part of the major overhaul of the body’s suite of contracts that is taking place this year.

Well, from a soon to be published book on four of the key new contracts it seems that the engines have been upgraded, with some special features added to account for changes in practice – but these were not dramatic changes. The evolution not revolution mantra explains why, with little fanfare so far, the JCT appears to have achieved initial success in republishing the set of documents.

It is clearly too early to declare the move an unqualified success. Only the use of the contracts, which is expected to start proper early next year, will show how smoothly the documents operate in practice. Yet initial judgements appear to be good. A book written by Cyril Sweett associate James Davison called JCT: What’s New? is broadly positive (see page 15). Speaking this week Davison praised the contracts for not being “faddy”, that is, not jumping on a new bandwagon or trend in the industry which may have laudable intentions but which has not achieved a critical mass of usage within the industry. Ridding the industry of retentions and introducing partnering make sense in theory but the vast swathe of the industry, both among the clients and the supply chain, has yet to sign up to such practices.

Davison’s study does include a certain amount of criticism, such as the lack of some definitions in the contracts and the failure to tackle the thorny issue of novation, but these feel more like quibbles than major issues. It is now up to the industry to introduce them to the messy place that is the real world and see for itself. We await the results with much interest.

Source

QS News