Newsletter
Information for members
January 2006

Previous issue: December 2005 | Next issue: February 2006

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Programme

Unless marked otherwise, the following meetings are free to members and guests. Location maps are now always available on the website.

All are welcome but for those meetings where the organiser’s telephone or email is given, it would be helpful if you could please let them know of your intention to attend.

Tuesday, 24th January 6.15pm
“The new battleground for adjudication: Natural justice”
Speaker: Sean Brannigan
Chairman: Andrew MacCuish
Venue: Brunswick Lecutre Theatre, Leeds Metropolitan University
Organiser: jonathanhawkswell@scl.org.uk

Thursday, 9th February 6.15pm
“Development partnerships for regeneration projects”
Speaker: Paul Mountain
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Thursday, 9th February 6.15pm
“Pre-action protocol for arbitration and adjudication”
Speaker: John Tackaberry QC
Venue: Ward Hadaway, 102 Quayside, Newcastle NE1
Organiser: deniswiles@scl.org.uk

Friday, 17th February 12.30 for 1pm
Special Olympics Lunch at the Brewery
Speakers will be Jack Lemley, Chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority and Dalton Grant, international high-jumper and member of the Singapore London 2012 bid team.
Cost £55 per person.
See separate item below and attached flyer/booking form

Tuesday, 21st February
Tour of the new Royal Bank of Scotland Headquarters
Further details to be announced
lindypatterson@scl.org.uk

Tuesday, 28th February 6.15pm
“NEC3”
Speaker: Brian Eggleston
Venue: Renaissance Hotel, South Normanton, Derby DE55
Organiser: jocelyntaylor@scl.org.uk

Monday, 6th March 6.30pm
Joint SCL/SCS meeting
“Notices of delay and disruption under construction contracts”
Speaker: Denis O'Driscoll
Venue: Rochestown Park Hotel. Rochestown Road, Cork
Organiser: johnlyden@scl.org.uk

Tuesday, 7th March 6.15pm
“Construction industry well served by the legal process?”
Speaker: Michael Blacker
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Wednesday, 22nd March 6.15pm
“Pre-action protocol for arbitration and adjudication”
Speaker: John Tackaberry QC
(Birmingham venue to be announced)
Organiser: arulselvaratnam@scl.org.uk

Tuesday, 4th April 6.15pm
“New CDM regulations”
Speaker: Gillian Birkby
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Tuesday, 2nd May 6.15pm
Presentation of the SCL Hudson 2005 prize winning paper (winner to be announced at the end of January)
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Tuesday, 9th May 6.15pm
“A little about time at large. Calculating a reasonable time to complete in the absence of a completion date”
Speaker: Keith Pickavance
Chairman: Jocelyn Taylor
(venue to be announced)
Organiser: jocelyntaylor@scl.org.uk

Wednesday, 10th May 6.15pm
“A little about time at large. Calculating a reasonable time to complete in the absence of a completion date”
Speaker: Keith Pickavance
(Glasgow venue to be announced)
Organiser: lindypatterson@scl.org.uk

Tuesday, 16th May 6.15pm
“Negligent participants in construction projects: The duty of care problems”
Speaker: Peter Aeberli
Chairman: Martin Green
Venue: Brunswick Lecture Theatre, Leeds Metropolitan University
Organiser: jonathanhawkswell@scl.org.uk

Wednesday, 17th May 6.00pm
The Society's AGM and Annual Dinner (for SCL members only)
Venue: Middle Temple Hall, London WC2
A flyer and booking form will be sent to members.

Tuesday, 6th June 6.15pm
“International Arbitration”
Speaker: Adrian Hughes
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Lunch at the Brewery

To celebrate the success of the 2012 Olympics bid and its significance for construction, members and their guests are invited to a special London Olympics Lunch at the Brewery on Friday, 17 th  February. We are delighted to announce that the guest speakers will be Jack Lemley, the newly appointed Chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority and Dalton Grant, international high-jumper and member of the Singapore London 2012 bid team. Tickets cost £55 per person.

A booking form is attached to this newsletter and bookings can also be made online. Please note that, because of anticipated demand, only 20 tables will be available for block booking by firms; first come, first served, one table per firm. All other tickets must be booked by named individuals.

Renewal of membership 2006

The renewal of membership invoices were despatched in December and we have already received subscription renewals from many members. Thank you.

If you did not receive, or have mislaid, your renewal invoice, then Jackie Morris at admin can email a duplicate copy to you. A reminder that full membership costs only £95 if payment is made before the end of January; thereafter the full rate of £100 must be paid.

E-members have been sent an email inviting them to renew, with instructions on how to make their payment online; online payment being the only payment method available to e-members.

SCL Junior Members

If you are under 40 or new to the world of construction law, then you can register as a junior member.  The junior committee arranges site visits, conferences with King's College London and social events such as the summer Boat Trip on the Thames .

To register as a Junior Member, log in to the SCL website (www.scl.org.uk) in the usual way, choose the 'Members' link at the top, and then the 'Junior members' link on the left. You will find an explanation of Junior Membership, and a simple form to register. You do not need to enter your name/details, as these are already recognised by the website after you logged in; you only need to confirm your eligibility by giving either your date of birth, or stating that you are junior in your area of expertise.

Nicholas Gould, SCL's Vice chairman, is responsible for the Junior members and he can be emailed on by email

SCL Publications

A flurry of new papers was published in December.  The three 2004 Hudson Prize papers are now on the website (with apologies for the delay).  They are: (1) Special relationships, home-made wine, consenting adults and gap filling by Matthew Molloy (D56), (2) Commercial exploitation in construction contracts: the role of economic duress and unjust enrichment by Hamish Lal (D57) and (3) The battle between logical purity and commercial expedience by Adrian Baron (D58).  

Also now on the website are (4) The PFE Change Management Supplements: Are they what the industry wants? by Peter Aeberli (D59), (5) Using Dispute Boards under the ICC's Rules: What is a dispute board and why use one? by Robert Gaitskell QC (D60) and (6) The tribunal in the driving seat: Inquisitorial procedures in adjudication and arbitration by Peter Aeberli (D61).  Also, (7) to be found in the reports subsection of publications (www.scl.org.uk/papers/reports), is  Does the TCC meet the needs of the construction industry, a short note of the panel discussion at the meeting in London on 1st November to discuss the TCC Guide (prepared by Hamish Lal).

In addition, two printed papers are enclosed with this newsletter:  (8)   What Price Pre-Action Protocols outside Litigation? (which includes a draft pre-action arbitration protocol based on the TCC protocol), by Declan O'Mahony, Richard Anderson and John Tackaberry QC and (9) Trends in Construction Dispute Resolution by Dr Robert Gaitskell.  

The Norman Royce Prize Paper

The Society of Construction Arbitrators has announced that they are to institute an annual prize in memory of the late Norman Royce. A prize of £2,000 will be awarded to the author of the best paper on a topic relevant to or touching on domestic or international construction disputes, including, but not limited to, their resolution and avoidance; and the lessons to be learnt from them. The closing date for entries is 1st July 2006. Further details can be found on the SCA's website at www.arbitrators-society.org

UK businesses and associations unite to tackle corruption

UK businesses and associations with interests in the domestic and international infrastructure, construction and engineering sectors have agreed a comprehensive Anti-Corruption Action Statement as part of a programme to promote industry-led actions which can help eliminate corruption.

The Action Statement has been developed and endorsed by the Anti-Corruption Forum, which comprises the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE), British Consultants and Construction Bureau (BCCB), Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE), Transparency International (UK) (TI(UK)), and representatives of the business community.

The Action Statement calls on all those with interests in the infrastructure, construction and engineering sectors to take effective and co-ordinated action to reduce corruption, on both a domestic and international basis, and on both the supply and demand sides. It identifies the various categories of participant in the sectors, including governments, project owners, banks, export credit agencies, companies providing the equipment and services for a project, business associations and professional institutions. It recommends preventive and enforcement actions which could be taken by those participants. A copy of the Anti-Corruption Action Statement is available on the Ethics page of SCL's website.

How to register on the website as a member

In order to get members' access to the website you must register online as a member. Registration is easy.

Go to the website homepage www.scl.org.uk click Member Registration (listed below the Member Login box on the right hand side of the homepage) and enter your details and a username and password of your own choosing. Your membership number is also asked for (if you don't know it, then admin can tell you).  

Thereafter, you can simply log onto the website using your username and password. When you log in you will see a navigation link to 'Members' which is where you can update your contact details, email subscriptions and data protection information – as well as search for information about other SCL members who have agreed for their data to be accessible to other members on the website (currently over 500 members).

New Website Search Engine

A useful search facility has been added to the SCL website. In the right column of the homepage you will see 'Quick Search'. Enter your word(s) and choose which of three sections to search - 'About Us', SCL newsletters, and summaries of papers. We hope that this facility will make it easier for members to find what they are looking for on the site.

The website is constantly being improved.  If you have any questions, problems or suggestions, please contact our webmaster, Edward Peters, at webmaster@scl.org.uk

Contributions invited from Members

What construction law related topic would you like to see presented as a talk? Please email your suggestions to Jackie Morris on admin@scl.org.uk and we will do our best to organise a talk in your area.

You are also invited to contribute to the newsletter. If you have an item related to construction law that you feel would be of interest to others, then please email text to Jackie Morris at admin@scl.org.uk. A member of Council will thereafter decide whether to include the item in the next newsletter. Please note that we do not accept advertisements or items of a commercial nature.

New Members

Finally, we are pleased to welcome the following new members who joined the Society in December:

Rob Acton, Bristol
Alison Ahearn, London
Jonathan Aquilina, London
James Clarke, Malahide, Ireland
Clare Connellan, London
Maria Daly, Dundalk, Ireland
Thomas Doyle, Pori, Finland
Andrew Ellingworth, London
Mark Etherington, Dublin
Ben Giaretta, London
Neil Griffiths, Warrington
Michael Hardy, London
Mathew Joseph, Dubai, UAE
Ruth Warham-Smith, London
Nick Williams, London
Dawid Welgemoed, Cape Town, South Africa

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