Newsletter
Information for members
October 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, 3rd October 6.15pm
"CIC Consultant's Contract"
Speakers: John Hughes D'aeth & Tony Broomhead
Chairman: Frances Paterson
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1A

Monday, 9th October 6.30pm
Joint SCL/SCS Meeting
“Formation of contract: offer and acceptance and letters of intent”
Speaker: Dudley Solan
Chairman: John Lyden
Venue: Rochestown Park Hotel, Rochestown Road, Douglas, Cork
Organiser: John Lyden

Tuesday, 17th October 6.30pm
The President's Reception
Presentation of the SCL's President's Medal
Venue: Ironmongers' Hall, Shaftesbury Place, Barbican, London
See separate item below and flyer

Wednesday, 25th October
Speaker: Mr Justice Ramsey
Chairman and title of talk to be announced
Venue: Middle Temple Hall, London EC4

Thursday 26th October 6.00pm
“Temporary Disconformity in Construction and Engineering Contracts Revisited”
Speaker: Professor Anthony Lavers
Chairman: Simon Goss
Venue: Bristol University, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8
Organiser: Simon Goss

Thursday, 2nd November
“Jurisdictional Challenges and how to deal with them”
Speaker: John Riches
Chairman: Lindy Patterson
Venue: Dundas & Wilson, 191 West George Street, Glasgow G2
Organiser: Lindy Patterson

Tuesday, 7th November 6.15pm
"Pre-Action Protocol for Arbitrations and Adjudications"
Speaker: John Tackaberry QC
Chairman: Jocelyn Taylor
Venue: Nottingham Gateway Hotel, Nuthall Road, Nottingham NG8
Organiser: Jocelyn Taylor

Tuesday, 7th November 6.15pm
"Complex Construction Contracts: Who needs them?"
Speakers: Michael Craik & Ben Patten
Chairman: Martin Bowdery QC
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1A

Monday, 13th November 6.30pm
Joint SCL/SCS Meeting
“Legal aspects of tenders and public procurement”
Speaker: Finola McCarthy
Chairman: John Lyden
Venue: Rochestown Park Hotel, Rochestown Road, Douglas, Cork
Organiser: John Lyden

Tuesday, 14th November 6.15pm
“Developments from a Judge's perspective”
Speaker: HHJ Frances Kirkham
Chairman: Martin Green
Venue: Lecture Theatre 118, The Northern Terrace, Leeds LS1
Organiser: Jonathan Hawkswell

Tuesday, 21st November 6.00pm
“A little of time at large: proof of a reasonable time to complete in the absence of a completion date”
Speaker: Keith Pickavance
Venue: Hambledon Suite 1, The Rose Bowl, Southampton SO30
Organiser: Marian Harris-Deans
Please note new date of this event (previously published as 17 October)

Wednesday, 22nd November 6.00pm
Joint Junior SCL/King's College London event
“The Business of Judging and Judicial Appointments”
Speakers: Her Honour Judge Frances Kirkham and Baroness Usha Prashar
Chairman: Nicholas Gould
Venue: The Great Hall, Strand Campus, King's College London
All are welcome (you do not have to be a Junior member) but please tell Sue Hart that you plan to attend by phone 020 7848 2643 or email susan.hart@kcl.ac.uk

Wednesday, 22 November 1.30pm
Joint SCL/Engineering Group of the Geological Society Meeting
“Allocating Ground Risk”
Speakers: Emeritus Professor John Uff (King's College, London); Professor Chris Clayton ( University of Southampton); Dr Terry Mellors and Mr Paul Lomas Clarke
Venue: The Geological Society, Piccadilly, London W1J
Tea/Coffee served from 1.00pm
Those wishing to attend should register their interest with Darren Page dpage@otbeng.com

Thursday, 23 November 6.00pm
"Lawyers playing doctors and nurses - some thoughts on PFI health projects"
Speakers: Catherine Burke and Michael Craik
Chairman: Nichola Vine
Venue: Shakespeares, Somerset House, Temple St , Birmingham , B2
Organiser: Arul Selvaratnam

Tuesday, 5th December 6.15pm
Joint Tecbar/SCL meeting.
Title of talk to be announced
Speaker: The Hon. Mr Justice Rupert Jackson
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1A\
Talk to be followed by free drinks

The President's Reception 2006

For those of you who have not yet done so, there is still time to book your tickets for the President's Reception, to be held at Ironmongers' Hall, Barbican, London on Tuesday, 17 October (6.30pm – 9pm). For those of you who have not attended the President's Reception before, it is a biennial event to which the Society always invites many senior members of the construction industry and also the senior members of the Judiciary. In recent years our guests at the President's reception have included the Right Honourable Lord Woolf and Sir John Egan. It is also the occasion of the presentation of the President's Medal. A flyer and booking form is attached to this newsletter.

Two social events for next year's diary

Lunch at the Brewery: Friday, 16th February 2007
AGM & Annual Dinner: Wednesday, 16th May 2007
Further details on how to book for these events will be given in due course.

Acceptance of the Delay and Disruption Protocol

T he Protocol, now nearly four years old, has been referred to, used or, quite probably, misused in many claims and disputes that have arisen on delay related issues since its publication. What has not appeared to happen, however, is any significant take-up of the Protocol's pro-active dispute avoidance principles or procedures. News has now reached us of support for taking up these principles on the international scene.

T he Romanian equivalent of the UK 's Highways Agency, RNCMNR – Romanian National Company of Motorways and National Roads, manages the implementation of the national road network development plan and the obtaining and expenditure of aid funds related to that plan. RNCMNR has suffered a number of adverse decisions in disputes relating to delay to projects due to changes. RNCMNR apparently considers that the delay events could have been managed better and that the disputes could have been avoided. It is this reason that has encouraged the RNCMNR to direct its consultants and contractors that they must implement the procedures of the Protocol on all existing and new projects. Further, RNCMNR has given quite a bit of thought to the matters and has introduced refinements to the processes set out in the Protocol to ensure that the process is tailored to the nature of work in which RNCMNR is involved and will be executed efficiently.

RAFU, the Ugandan equivalent of the Highways Agency, is also reviewing the RNCMNR directive and the Protocol to ascertain whether any assistance may be gained in RAFU's endeavours to ensure that aid received is expended as effectively as possible.

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 annual summer Boat Trip on the Thames .

To register as a Junior Member, log in to the SCL website (www.scl.org.uk) using your username and password. Click on ‘Members' and then 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 Chairman, is responsible for the Junior members and he can be emailed.

New Course at Leeds Metropolitan University

Leeds Metropolitan University has launched a new MSc course in Construction Law and Dispute Resolution aimed at professional Engineers, Architects, Surveyors and Lawyers. This replaces a similar long standing course to take account of current trends in the construction industry. The course intake is limited to twenty such that it has a high interactive content, and excellent opportunities for networking. It is part-time and extends over 2 or 3 years to cover not only construction law but also arbitration, adjudication, mediation and, very importantly, claims.

Course leader Martin Green said:

“It is a dynamic, high-powered course where all visiting lecturers are experienced practitioners in their own right. It is an excellent career development opportunity and will satisfy the CPD requirements for most professionals. Our aim is to make it both instructive and enjoyable”

A student of the previous course said:

“This is a valuable course which will give you a wide, knowledge based approach to contractual issues affecting the construction industry today. The information and back up provided easily equates to over 10 years of actual hands on experience”

Applications are being considered now for a September start and Martin Green on 0113 283 2600 ext 7647, or via e-mail at M.B.Green@leedsmet.ac.uk can give you more information.

New Certificate in Construction Adjudication at King's College, London

King's College, London has launched a new eight-month Certificate programme for existing and would-be adjudicators and advisers to parties to adjudications – qualified lawyers and construction professions. For details, contact Sue Hart at King's College on 020 7848 2643 or susan.hart@kcl.ac.uk

New Conference

A conference entitled “Contract Management for Dredging and Maritime Construction” will be held on 12-13 October at Docklands, London . The event is being organised by the Institution of Civil Engineers, on behalf of the Central Dredging Association and the International Association of Dredging Companies, and should be of interest to many construction lawyers.

The conference brochure is available on the SCL website but enquiries should be made directly with ICE Conferences on 020 7665 2318. Booking can be done online at www.iceconferences.com

International Expert Conference: Call for papers

A call for papers has been received for the fourth Annual International Expert Conference which will take place in Prague on 6 th and 7 th November 2006 . The title of the conference is “Construction and real estate: expertise and appraisal”. If you are interested in submitting a paper, please contact Sergey Zaharov, Vice-President of the Russian Chamber of Construction Expert Witnesses, on zaharov@expertise.ru

SCL email addresses

Owing to the large amounts of spam being received by those using SCL email addresses, we have removed these addresses from the website. Visitors to the site who wish to email a Council member or other SCL person can now do so via a web form which hides the actual email address.

Please note that if you have SCL email addresses in your address book which use the syntax firstnamesurname@scl.org.uk they have now been changed to firstname.surname@scl.org.uk

admin@scl.org.uk, postman@scl.org.uk and webmaster@scl.org.uk are not affected.

SCL Hudson Prize 2006

Council of the Society of Construction Law announce the 2006 SCL Hudson Prize competition, and invite entrants from all with an interest in construction law and an idea which they wish to share. The length of essay is a maximum of 5,000 words and the judging panel places emphasis upon originality of thought and approach.

Eligible subjects can be drawn from any part of construction law widely defined, including (but not restricted to) construction and engineering contracts, contract administration, claims, arbitration and dispute resolution, construction litigation, the law of torts, company law, property law, taxation (although this must be related to construction) and any other aspect of law or procedure relevant to the construction industry. First prize is £1,500, second prize is £750. Entrants can also be highly commended or commended. All who are awarded prizes or commendations receive a year's free membership of the Society.

Philip Britton of King's College has enjoyed considerable success in recent years in the competition but has indicated that he is leaving the field open this time round. The Society hopes that a strong field will compete for the right to succeed this distinguished past winner. Other past winners have included members of almost all the disciplines relating to construction law including barristers, solicitors (including a trainee), quantity surveyors, engineers, academics, architects, and several hybrids qualified in more than one discipline.

Further details of the competition, the closing date for which is 5 th January 2007 , can be obtained from the website. Any queries can be referred to me via Jackie Morris in the first instance. Good luck to all entrants.

Anthony Lavers
Chair of the Judging Panel

SCL International Conference 2006: Singapore, October 2006

Following discussions between the respective Societies, the Singapore Society of Construction Law has offered to host the first SCL International Conference on 16 th and 17 th October 2006 in Singapore . The intention is to bring together the Societies of the Asia Pacific region, which now include Singapore , Malaysia , Hong Kong and New Zealand , together with other SCLs from the UK and the United Arab Emirates . The members of the European Society of Construction Law have also been invited to participate and other experts have been invited from Australia , China and India . The themes of the Conference are to be Oil and Gas, Mega Projects, FIDIC Contracts, Professional Negligence and Insurance, with special features on China , India and the Middle East .

SCL UK is an organising partner for this Conference and the new Chairman and Vice Chairman are speakers. Any SCL members wishing to register for attendance at the Conference should contact June Tan at june@intellitrain.biz The Conference fee is 975 Singapore dollars (SGD) which is approximately £335.

King's College - TCC Mediation Survey

King's College is carrying out research into the use of mediation in construction disputes.  The survey is being conducted with the permission and assistance of the Technology and Construction Court . Essentially, all parties to litigation in the TCC will receive a questionnaire survey relating to mediation. The survey commenced on 1 st June this year, and will continue for two years.  Any person or organisation that becomes involved in TCC litigation as a party will receive a questionnaire from the court. Questionnaires are returned to King's College for analysis. 

The purpose of the research is to consider:

1. In what circumstances mediation is an efficacious alternative to litigation?
2. To assist the court to determine whether, and at what stage, it should encourage mediation; and
3. identify which mediation techniques are particularly successful.

The Honourable Mr Justice Jackson QC and Nicholas Gould (SCL's Chairman) instigated the research. Nicholas Gould is co-ordinating it.  However, a dedicated researcher has been employed at King's College.  He is Aaron Hudson-Tyreman, email aaron.hudsontyreman@ntlworld.com

News for Barristers

SCL is now accredited by the Bar Council as a course provider and will endeavour to secure Bar CPD points for future events.

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. To register, go to the website homepage, click Member Registration 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). That's all there is to it.

Thereafter, you simply log onto the website using your username and password to get free access to the list of published papers, access your own contact details, or search for the contact details of other SCL members who have agreed for their data to be accessible to other members on the website – the total of those who have given permission is now nearly 1,000 members.

New Members

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

Susan Barrington-Binns, York
George Stanley Burfitt, Skipton, Yorks
John Burke, Dublin
Stephen Gee, Manama, Bahrain
Darren Green, Bolton, Lancs
Jonathan Hayes, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tony Humphries, Northampton
Colm Imbert, Maraval, Trinidad and Tobago
Guy Mander, Mount Hawthorn, Australia
Deirdre McCabe, London
Robin Miller, Taunton, Somerset

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