Newsletter
Information for members
October 2002

Previous issue: September 2002
Next issue: November 2002

Programme

A reminder that the general evening meetings are free of charge to members and guests and that no booking is necessary

The Society of Construction Law Delay and Disruption Protocol

SCL’s President, Sir Philip Otton, chaired the successful launch of the “SCL Delay and Disruption Protocol” held at the ICE on 16th October. The launch was attended by almost 200 senior representatives of the Construction Industry and the Legal Profession. Sir Philip said that the launch of the Protocol marked an important milestone for the Society.
The aim of the document is to guide all those involved in the construction process on the management of issues of timing and delay, in order to reduce the scope for argument over causes of delay and to resolve such disputes efficiently.

All members should by now have received a hard copy of the Protocol. Further copies may be purchased for £7.50 plus p&p (total £10 to UK addresses, £12.50 to overseas addresses), either from the on-line shop or by sending cheques, made payable to the Society, to Jackie Morris at the administration office. (Ten or more copies cost £9 each including p&p.)

The Protocol can also be found at www.eotprotocol.com and the on-line version includes internal web links. It may also be downloaded as a pdf document. It is though a large file (84 pages - 2.8MB, including nine pages of figures in colour) and you may experience difficulty downloading it due to the pressure on our servers. You may wish therefore to purchase a hard copy instead.

Members may download the pdf version free of charge, provided it is for your personal use only. You may not take photocopies.

Non members may also download it free, provided it is for their personal use only; copies may not be made.

Academics and students may download it free of charge. Consent for copying for classes etc should be sought from feedback@eotprotocol.com

Commercial organisations may download the file and/or make copies, on payment of a licence fee of £5 a copy.

Quoting extracts: Provided that the Society's written permission is sought (contact feedback@eotprotocol.com), extracts may be reproduced in articles, seminar notes etc. Permission will usually be given provided that no more than 10% of the total text is quoted, and that the source is acknowledged (SCL also asks that the website address, www.eotprotocol.com is given).

Dispute Resolution Guidance

As you may know, the Office of Government Commerce has recently published a document on Dispute Resolution Guidance together with the Lord Chancellor's Pledge on ADR for Government procurement.

These may be found on the Office of Government Commerce's website, http://www.ogc.gov.uk

If you have any comments on these documents, they should be forwarded to Roger Hankey, Construction Division, Property and Construction Directorate of the OGC; his e-mail address is roger.hankey@ogc.gsi.gov.uk

SCL Hudson Prize 2002

You should already have received your invitation to submit an essay for this year’s SCL Hudson Prize. If not, contact Jackie Morris at the admin office who can send you a copy, alternatively, you can get the details from the website.

The closing date for entries is 31st December and the prizes include money, wine and a year’s free membership of the Society!

Only those who enter can hope to win, so why not give it a try this year?

President’s Reception

SCL hosted a lively reception on the evening of Wednesday 16th October at the Ironmongers Hall, London EC2 at which Sir Philip Otton awarded this year’s President’s Medal (separate report below).

The reception was attended by senior figures from the construction judiciary, government and construction industry.

President’s Medal

For his outstanding contribution to construction law, this year’s President’s Medal has been awarded to Professor Ian Duncan Wallace QC. In presenting the medal to him, Sir Philip said that it was to acknowledge the enormous contribution to construction law that Ian had made throughout 50 years of his professional life. He had rejuvenated the standard text book Hudson as a co editor in 1959 and had been an editor for over 30 years spanning the 9th, 10th and 11th Editions. In addition, he had also produced an array of scholarship works including the Building and Civil Engineering Standard Forms: A Commentary on the ICE 5th Edition and Construction Contracts: Principles and Policies (in 2 volumes).

Paris Conference

Members of the Society are invited to attend a conference at the Maison du Barreau in Paris on 9th December 2002 at 6pm when Simon Lofthouse and Robert Stevenson will be speaking on construction law in England and Wales.

The specific topics being covered are arbitration, adjudication and the roles of architects and engineers as independent certifiers in traditional UK contracts.

The event is being organised by Anne Dircks-Dilly of Dircks-Dilly Favier, 40 Rue Paul Valery, 75116 Paris, tel: 01.45.00.00.00, fax: 01.45.00.38.26, and is a joint promotion between l'Association des Juristes Franco-Brittaniques and la Commission de Droit International.

A date for your 2003 diary!

The Brewery Lunch has been booked for Friday, 28 February 2003. The guest speaker will be announced and tickets will be on sale shortly.

SCL Papers

Do We Need Partnering Contracts? a paper given by Rudi Klein in Cardiff, can now be found on the website. Members will also be glad to hear that the papers given by Kim Franklin and Andrew Bartlett (on the Co-operative Retail Services v Taylor Young & Partners case - which they both appeared in) and Martin Lenihan (on PFI/PPP contracts) will be published, together with a paper by Professor Michael Furmston on construction insurance and risk allocation.

Construction Industry Council

The Construction Industry Council is inviting comments on a consultation paper “Review of the Planning Enforcement System in England”. Further details are available on the SCL website. Please email comments to Christopher Miers at christophermiers@scl.org.uk by 29th November 2002.

CUBATG Guidance for Adjudicators

This Guidance, launched by the Construction Minister Brian Wilson MP on 23rd July, is now available on the SCL website as a pdf file. Drafted and published by the pan-industry Construction Umbrella Bodies Adjudication Task Group, it arises out of the review of the Scheme and Construction Act and covers a number of specific issues raised in that review. It is essential reading for all adjudicators - and others involved in adjudication too.

New Regional Co-ordinator

We welcome Jonathon Hawkswell as the new regional co-ordinator for Leeds. Jonathan has taken over from Simon Palmer who has had to step down because of business commitments and our thanks go to Simon for the work he has done on behalf of the Society. Jonathan’s contact details can be found with those of the other regional co-ordinators on the last page of this newsletter.

Institute of Structural Engineers

The Institute of Structural Engineers have announced a series of evening talks to be held at their offices at 11 Upper Belgrave Street, London SW1. The talks are free and no booking is necessary.

Thursday, 7 November, 6.00pm Developments in Bi-Steel construction
Speakers: Hugh Bowerman, Neil Coyle and Jack Chapman.

Thursday, 5 December, 6.00pm The Ramspol storm surge barrier: A nylon reinforced rubber inflatable dam.
Speaker: Aad van der Horst.

Thursday, 12 December, 6.00pm Façade engineering – what’s behind the façade?
Speaker: Dr Stephen Ledbetter.

Dinner (there is a charge of £40 + VAT for dinner) will follow each of these meetings. To make a reservation, or for any other details of the meetings, contact the IStructE directly on 020 7235 4535 or mail@istructe.org.uk

University of California

The University of California is running a number of international law courses in Summer 2003 which they think might be of interest to members of SCL.

The courses include "Orientation in USA Law" providing a four week overview of the US legal system, a two week "Structuring and international joint venture" course and also their "Summer Master of Arts Degree in International Commercial Law", which entails attending courses over a six week period during 3-5 consecutive summers.

Further information about the University and its various courses may be found on its website www.law.ucdavis.edu

Links with Barcelona

The current President of the European Society for Construction Law, Prof Dr Alfonso Hernandez Moreno is seeking to expand the list of law firms affiliated to the Masters of International Law, which course is run by the ISDE and University of Barcelona. During part of the study period, Masters degree students find placements with the affiliated firms. For more information please contact Christopher Miers, christophermiers@scl.org.uk

Change the Face of International Turnkey Contracts

The ICC Commission on International Commercial Practices, based in Paris, is currently working on a draft of a new Major Projects Turnkey contract for international construction. The mandate of the group is to create a contract that is fair to all parties. If you are interested in taking part (at your own or your firm's expense!) contact robertknutson@scl.org.uk.

SCL Web Site: www.scl.org.uk

For those new to the Society and/or to the WWW our web site is a constant source of new information. Items which have arrived too late to be published in a Newsletter, or details of meetings which have been arranged after the seasonal Diary has gone to print, will be posted on the website. It contains details of our future programme and contact details for university book grants. Also, in addition to the papers mentioned in the separate article above, the website has a list of over 100 titles of past papers.

Death of Norman Royce

Norman Royce who died at the end of September was, among many other splendid things, a founder member of the SCL and a wonderfully enthusiastic supporter of it in its early years. And enthusiasm was indeed one of his defining characteristics - enthusiasm, love of life, encouragement - the positive attitude and a joke - preferably and old and terrible one - on all occasions. He always looked forward. Driving an open Rolls Royce tourer, piloting a Spitfire, overseeing one of the longest of this country's arbitrations, mastering many of the guilds - the list of his interests and achievements is endless; and all deriving from this exuberant enjoyment of what life had to offer. And he carried that love of life, that always-look-forward - into the grave by banning all obituaries and memorial services, so we had better stop here and just drink a glass to the good fortune that saw to it that the SCL was one of his interests.

SCL Membership

Finally, we are pleased to welcome the following new members to the Society in September:

Regional Coordinators

Are you moving? Will your contact details change? Do we have your email address? Please tell Membership Administration so that we can keep our records up to date.

Membership/Administration
67 Newbury Street
Wantage, Oxon., OX12 8DJ
Tel: 01235 770606
Fax: 01235 770580
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