DGA Ebrief April 2023 - 13 Apr 2023
Welcome to the second DGA E-Brief for 2023, which includes a combination of informative articles on important issues for the construction industry provided by our guest contributor and senior consultants from across DGA’s regional offices.
Firstly, I am happy to announce that the DGA Group website has had a significant ‘revamp’ and was relaunched yesterday. This fully accessible website is more user-friendly and allows users to easily browse some of DGA’s international work experience. Our library of articles, ‘The Reading Room’, is now filtered into topics so it may be used as both reference and education to all visitors.
Our guest article in this edition is a combined effort from Browne Jacobson LLP involving Partners Michael Sadler, Mark Stubbs, and Senior Associate Gavin Hoccom. Together they have examined where earlier this year, the Technology and Construction Court (TCC) handed down a significant judgment, J A Ball Limited (in Administration) v St Philips Homes (Courthaulds) Ltd, which clarifies and expands the law with regard to the circumstances in which the Courts will grant summary judgment of an adjudicator’s decision or order a stay of execution in favour of a party who is insolvent.
The matters of common law and common sense in the context of delay analysis is considered by Karen Wenham, Delay Expert and DGA’s Director of Programming Services – Asia Pacific and Eric Chang, Associate Director. They look at how the Courts view causation, the necessity to base analysis on facts and the ability to rely, or not, on published support for any particular methods of delay analysis.
Scott Milner, DGA Director and Quantum Expert, UK, provides a review of the amendments made to the NEC4 suite of Contracts covering matters such as remote working, third-party design, adjudication, design liability, liability caps, ECI, climate change and termination.
The challenges with producing a credible ‘as-built critical path’ is looked at by David Waddle, a DGA Director and one of our UK-based Delay Experts. David explores how both sides to a dispute may seek to demonstrate what they see as a credible critical path sequence, using record information and applying this in a logical manner to the progress of the Works. However, in a formal dispute, it is for the appointed third party to determine which party is relying on fact and which fiction, or indeed is it a combination of both?
The subject of ‘wilful default’ is considered by Alex Edwards, DGA Senior Consultant, UK, in the context of exclusion of liability clauses, and whether a party’s conduct may be considered to result from acting in a deliberate manner, together with how the courts view the meaning of such clauses inserted into Contracts, and what is required to establish a breach of contract.
Lastly, Matthew Yew, Associate Director in DGA’s Singapore office, provides some analysis of how ‘condition precedent notice requirements’ are viewed by the courts in Singapore and their importance in relation to extension of time entitlement and the remuneration for associated additional costs.
I hope you enjoy reading our latest E-Brief and hope that you will take a moment to visit all of our website. If you have any feedback on the website, please contact amy.telling@dga-group.com. If you would like to discuss any of the featured topics, the wider DGA training services or any related matter, please feel free to contact any of our offices.
Jim Bourke
DGA Group Managing Director
To read the full edition please click here or visit The Reading Room