Newsletter
Information for members
April 2001

This is an abridged version of the newsletter. Future dates are listed in the events page.

University Grants

The Society agreed to donate over £17,000 to institutions of construction law teaching in the years 1999 and 2000.

About a third went to Kings College, London, including a one off payment of £2,750 to purchase and install a workstation in the library. The library is available free of charge to SCL members (see below). The Society has agreed to increase its support to Kings in 2001, by paying the subscriptions for additional journals (another £960 including binding past volumes) and paying for expert technical support to develop the workstation (£500).

£2,000 was donated in 2000 to UMIST in Manchester to help them develop a database of construction law theses and dissertations for launching on a website. It is the aim of UMIST and the Society to link the website in 2001 to other centres of construction law learning. £500 was donated in 1999 to Leeds Metropolitan University to help them develop a regional website. The site contains information on construction law courses and CPD events and it has links to other universities and professional bodies. It will be linked in 2001 to SCL's website and information on undergraduate dissertation topics will be developed.

£2,880 was given to the University of Wolverhampton in 2000 for the purchase of books and journals. The Society has agreed to donate another £2,600 for this purpose in 2001. The University is used by SCL for regional seminars.

£2,000 was donated in 2000 to UCE in Birmingham to sponsor a lecturer on its MA Law course. The lecturer will be giving a talk to the SCL in the Midlands this year. The Society has agreed to continue the sponsorship and another £2,000 will be donated to UCE in 2001.

The Universities of Leeds and Strathclyde and Oxford Brookes University were donated about £2,500 between them in 1999 for the purchase of construction law books and journals. Leeds runs a CPD course for the Institution of Civil Engineers in Civil Engineering Law and Contract Procedure and says that its students find the books and journals particularly useful.

Finally, £720 was donated to Kingston University in 1999 to develop a website with links to the Society. Kingston hope to have the website up and running in 2001.

Research and library facilities in central London

SCL members who have a query they want to solve, or a case report they cannot find, or a quiet place to study, are welcome to use the Library of the Centre of Construction Law & Management at King's College London. The Library, in The Old Watch House on the Strand Campus at King's, holds about 800 books and reports on aspects of law relevant to construction. It also has (thanks to continuing SCL support) ongoing subscriptions to the Law Reports, Lloyd's Law Reports and most of the specialist UK and international law reports and journals of note in the field. The Library also houses the dissertations and theses of students linked to the Centre, searchable on a database; there is a workstation connected to the King's network (hence to the Internet) and a self-service photocopier. The Library is normally open on weekdays between 10am and 5.30pm (closed on College holidays and when meetings or seminars are taking place in the Library): call Sue Hart on 020-7848 2643 or e-mail her at susan.hart@kcl.ac.uk in advance of your visit if you can, or if you would like further information.

Franco-British Lawyers

The Franco-British Lawyers Society has organised a conference entitled The Rights of Third Parties Under Contract: An International Comparison to be held on Wednesday, 30th May from 2pm to 6pm in the Cruciform Theatre, University College, Gower Street, London. The conference will be chaired by The Honourable Lord Prosser and speakers will include Professor Andrew Burrows, The Honourable Lord Gill, Professor Laurent Aynes and Nigel Jones QC. Tickets cost £75 (£50 to members of the FBLS and free to students). For booking information, contact Valerie Bouille on 020 7222 3860 or email: yfb31@dial.pipex.com

New Members

Finally, we are pleased to welcome the following new members to the Society during March 2001: