Following our extremely successful seminar sessions in 2010, which were at times oversubscribed, we provide advance notice in this Newsletter of our seminars planned for 2011.
First Seminar
We start the year with a seminar on the new ‘Construction Act’ (the ‘Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009) which is now expected to come into force in April 2011.
This seminar will be held on Tuesday 25th January 2011 at 12 Bloomsbury Square, London and on Thursday 27th January 2011 at the Waltham Abbey Marriott Hotel.
No one working for a client, a main contractor or a subcontractor can ignore the new Construction Act or the new Scheme. Their effects will ripple through standard form contracts, payment notices and procedures, and adjudication. Ad-hoc / in-house subcontract forms will need to be amended otherwise they will be non-compliant and will be ineffective.
In respect of adjudication, the main issues relate to the removal of the requirement for a contract to be in writing before adjudication provisions can apply, the introduction of a statutory slip rule for adjudicators, and the restriction on parties agreement as to which party pays for the cost of adjudication.
In respect of payments the amendments will prohibit ‘pay when certified’ provisions, includes entirely new concepts of Payer Notices, Payee Notices, and Pay Less Notices; and permits a contractor or subcontractor from part suspension of its services, rather than walking off-site entirely.
The new Construction Act will have a major impact upon the UK construction industry, and if you can only get to one breakfast seminar this year, you must make sure you get to this seminar.
Second Seminar
We follow on with our next seminar on ‘Insolvency’.
This seminar will be held on Thursday 10th March 2011 at the Waltham Abbey Marriott Hotel and on Tuesday 15th March 2011 at 12 Bloomsbury Square, London.
There were over 4,000 compulsory liquidations and creditors’ voluntary liquidations in England and Wales in the second quarter of 2010 (the latest official records available). Unfortunately, it has historically been the case that there is an increase in liquidations as the economy comes out of recession. Therefore, the construction industry will almost certainly be further affected by matters relating to insolvency over the next year or so.
This seminar will explain what the various insolvency terms (i.e. administrations, receiverships, liquidations, CVA’s, Company restructuring and refinancing) actually mean, and will consider how you can best protect yourself in the event of one of your clients or subcontractors becoming insolvent; will review what rights you have in respect of the termination of the contract, and what the situation is in respect of the right of title of materials and products.
Insolvency anywhere in the supply chain from Employer, Contractor to Subcontractor can have a major impact on many parties involved with a construction project (for example, an Employer becoming insolvent may prevent a Subcontractor being paid by a Sub-Contractor), and therefore it is vital that an understanding of the risks and the rights associated with an Insolvency are understood by our clients.
Third Seminar
Our third seminar is to be on the subject of ‘Back to Basics’.
This seminar will be held on Tuesday 17th May 2011 at the Waltham Abbey Marriott Hotel and Thursday 19th May 2011 at 12 Bloomsbury Square, London.
The ‘Back to Basics’ seminar will cover the things that are often overlooked (until it is almost too late).
For example, do you have a contract? What are the advantages / disadvantages of having a contract? What are the terms of your contract? Do you have the right to an extension of time? What do you need to show to demonstrate an entitlement to an extension of time? Are you entitled to loss and expense? Are you entitled to common law damages? What do you need to show to demonstrate an entitlement to loss and expense and/or damages? What notices must you give and what records must you keep to pursue a successful claim?
This seminar will be most useful as a refresher and an update for all of those involved in the construction process, and will be a great forum to rediscover what we all feel we should know already or to clarify any misconceptions that are held in respect of the ‘basics’ of contract formation, and rights to an extension of time and/or to loss and expense and/or common law damages.
Fourth Seminar
We follow on with our fourth seminar which will be the first of two seminars on the NEC 3 Form of Contract. This seminar will be in respect of ‘Programming under the NEC 3 Form of Contract’.
This seminar will be held on Tuesday 21st June 2011 at the Waltham Abbey Marriott Hotel and Wednesday 22nd June 2011 at 12 Bloomsbury Square, London.
This seminar will concentrate on Programming under the NEC 3 Form of Contract, and will deal with the contractual significance of the Accepted Programme, the contents of the Accepted Programme and will deal with the issues of time risk allowances, float, the ownership of float, the updating of the Accepted Programme, and the assessment of extensions to the Completion Date when considered against the Accepted Programme.
Under the NEC 3 Form of Contract, the Accepted Programme is a management tool, it is not just in the province of the Planner but is also a key document for the Projects Manager, Contracts Manager, Site Manager, Commercial Manager and Quantity Surveyor to understand.
This seminar is important for all participants with the NEC 3 Form of Contract.
Fifth Seminar
Our fifth seminar of the year will be the second of our two seminars on the NEC 3 Form of Contract.
This seminar will concentrate on the other main elements of the NEC 3 Form of Contract, i.e. ‘Early Warnings, the Risk Registers, and Compensation Events under the NEC 3 Form of Contract’.
This seminar will be held on Wednesday 28th September 2011 at 12 Bloomsbury Square, London and on Thursday 29th September 2011 at the Waltham Abbey Marriott Hotel.
If Early Warnings are not given and properly recorded then this can have a dramatic effect on a Contractor’s entitlement to time and/or money, and if Notices of Compensation Events are not given, a Contractor may have no right to additional time and/or money at all, and also may have no entitlement to recover common law damages!
In any of these scenarios the outcome for a Contractor or a Subcontractor could be disastrous, and it is therefore vital that procedures are put in place to ensure that the required and necessary notices are given at the appropriate times.
This seminar is vital for an understanding of a Contractor’s and Subcontractor’s obligations in respect of notices to be given, and for an understanding of the most severe consequences that may arise should those notices not be given.
Sixth Seminar
Our final and sixth seminar of the year will be on ‘How to be successful in Adjudication’.
This seminar will be held on Tuesday 22nd November 2011 at the Waltham Abbey Marriott Hotel and on Wednesday 23rd November 2011 at 12 Bloomsbury Square, London.
This seminar will deal with any changes to the Adjudication process arising from the new ‘Construction Act’ but will also cover the procedures and the tactics that must be followed to be successful in the adjudication process, and also, crucially, highlights those pitfalls that must be avoided. In this seminar we explain the adjudication process from the formation of a dispute to the enforcement of an Adjudicator’s decision in outline, and we highlight the key considerations in pursuing an adjudication action.
Conclusion.
Whilst flyers will be sent out by us in respect of the above seminars in the normal way, we felt that it was important that our key clients were given advance notice of the seminar topics and dates so that the events can be diarised by them at an early date.
