Construction contracts

This article is all about construction contracts in the UK construction industry between the main Client and the main contractor but also mentions sub-contracts between the main contractor and the subcontractors.

Stravelles run a course in Adjudication which aims to  allow the student to run their own adjudication as the referring or responding party without paying for legal representation.

We support legal representation in more complex cases but we want to encourage especially smaller companies to feel more confident fighting for their contractual rights.

Introduction

There are several forms of contract for each form of procurement. They are published by various different organisations who are essentially competing against each other in terms of people adopting their form of contract.

These organisations include but are not limited to

• ACA (Association of Consultant Architects)
• Chartered Institute of Building
• FIDIC (Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs-Conseils)
• JCT (The Joint Contracts Tribunal)
• NEC (The New Engineering Contract): Engineering and Construction Contract)

What is a contract ?

A contract is simply a promise or set of promises from one party to another which the law will enforce.

There are several forms of contract which we are going to identify in this article.

Different types of contract

There are several different types of contract. There are the standard forms of contract published by the organisations mentioned above and these can be purchased as physical or digital copies.

However parties can buy these contracts and then modify them or customise them to their own individual needs.

Finally, there can be completely custom contracts created ‘from scratch’.

Examples of standard forms of contract used in the UK

The Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT)

The Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) has published several contracts including:

NB: The JCT traditional forms of contract remain by far the most popular forms of contract in the UK (ref. NBS: National Construction Contracts and Law Survey 2012).

• CE: Constructing Excellence contract.
• CM: Construction management contract.
• DB: Design and build contract.
• IFC: Intermediate form of building contract.
• MC: Management building contract.
• MP: Major project construction contract.
• MTC: Measured term contract.
• MW: Agreement for minor work.
• PCC: Prime cost building contract.
• RM: Repair and maintenance contract (commercial).
• SBC: Standard Building Contract.

The New Engineering Contract (NEC) suite of contracts

The New Engineering Contract suite of contracts includes:

• Contract Option A: Priced contract with activity schedule.
• Contract Option B: Priced contract with bill of quantities.
• Contract Option C: Target contract with activity schedule.
• Contract Option D: Target contract with bill of quantities.
• Contract Option E: Cost reimbursable contract.
• Contract Option F: Management contract.
• Contract Option G: Term contract.

The Association of Consultant Architects (ACA)

The Association of Consultant Architects (ACA) includes:

• Form of building agreement.
• SPC: Standard form of specialist contract for project partnering.
• PPC: Standard form of contract for project partnering.

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)

The Chartered Institute of Building includes:

CPC 2013: CIOB Contract for use with Complex Projects.

The Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs-Conseils (FIDIC)

The Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs-Conseils (FIDIC’s) core suite of contracts includes:

• Conditions of Contract for Construction. The Red Book.
• Conditions of Contract for Plant & Design-Build. The Yellow Book.
• Conditions of Contract for EPC Turnkey Projects. The Silver Book.
• The Short Form of Contract. The Green Book.

Other forms of contract

• The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) forms of contract.
• The Civil Engineering Contractors’ Association (CECA) subcontracts for the ICC

Redundant forms of contract

• The Institution of Civil Engineers Conditions of Contract (CoC) have been replaced by the suite of NEC contracts.
• ICC Infrastructure Conditions of Contract. A relaunch of CoC which is now replaced
• The GC Works suite of standard government conditions of contract  are no longer being issued by the UK Government
• The Institution of Mechanical Engineers / The Institution of Engineering Technology) Model Forms of General Conditions of Contract for electrical works (MF/1-4).IMechE/IET