Newsletter
Information for members
January 2008

Previous issue: December 2007 | Next issue: February 2008

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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, 22 January 6.15pm
“Adjudication – some practical problems and how to overcome them”
Speaker:  Guy Cottam
Chairman:  Martin Green
Venue:  Lecture Theatre 118, The Northern Terrace, Civic Quarter Leeds, LS1  
Organiser: Jonathan Hawkswell

Monday, 28 January 6.00 for 6.15pm  
Joint SCL/Pyramus and Thisbe Club 
“Party Walls and Excavations - how much for business disruption?”
Speaker:  Jonathan Selby
Chairman:   Jocelyn Taylor
Venue:   Nottingham Gateway Hotel, Cinderhill, Notts NG8 
Organiser: Jocelyn Taylor

Tuesday,  5 February 6.30pm
“Compound Interest and Financing Claims – the Sempra Metals revolution”
Speaker: His Honour Judge Anthony Thornton QC
Chairman: Ronan Champion
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Tuesday, 12 February 6.00pm 
Joint SCL/Northumbria University School of the Built Environment Seminar
“Climate Change and the Building Industry:  Outlooks and Forecasts”
Speaker:  Professor Rudi Klein
Venue:  Northumbria University, Room A206, Ellison Building,  Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 
Organiser: Simon Lewis

Friday, 22 February  12.30pm  
The Society's Annual Lunch at the Brewery
Speaker: Sandi Toksvig
Venue: The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London 
Members and their guests are invited to lunch at the Brewery. Cost:  £65 per person.
Block bookings by firms will be limited to 2 tables each.  Bookings can only be made by paid-up SCL members.  All places will be allocated on a first paid, first served basis.
The booking form is attached to this newsletter and is also available on the website.

Tuesday,  4 March 6.15pm 
“European Procurement Law - why it matters to you”
Speaker: Sarah Hannaford
Chairman:  Mr Justice Coulson
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Friday, 7 March 8.30am
SCL Annual Conference in partnership with The RICS & Leeds Metropolitan University
“Resolving disputes in construction”
Speakers:   The Honourable Mr Justice Ramsey, Christopher Ennis, Ian Pennicott QC, Ronan Champion & Nerys Jefford
Chairman:  Jonathan Hawkswell
Venue:  The Royal Armouries, Leeds 
Organiser: Jonathan Hawkswell

Thursday, 13 March  6.00pm
Joint SCL/CIOB meeting
“Mock Arbitration Hearing”
Speaker:  Tony Bingham
Venue: Hambledon Suite 1, The Rose Bowl, Southampton SO30 
Organiser: Marian Harris-Deans

Tuesday, 18 March
Joint SCL/SNBCC Meeting
Speaker: Mr Justice Ramsey
Chairman:  The Honourable Lord Clarke
Venue: Signet Library, Edinburgh
Organiser: Lindy Patterson

Tuesday, 8 April 6.15pm 
“CDM Regulations 2007 - One year on”
Speaker: Ben Legg
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1  

Tuesday, 6 May 6.15pm 
Presentation of the winning 2007 SCL Hudson Prize Paper
Winner to be announced
Chairman:  Professor Anthony Lavers
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Tuesday, 13 May 6.15pm 
“Presenting cases in court: what a judge looks for”
Speaker:   His Honour Judge Grenfell
Chairman:   Martin Green
Venue:   Lecture Theatre 118, The Northern Terrace, Civic Quarter, Leeds LS1 
Organiser: Jonathan Hawkswell

Wednesday, 14 May 6.30pm
The Society's AGM & Annual Dinner
Venue: Middle Temple Hall, London EC4
This event is for SCL members only – booking details to be announced.

Tuesday, 3 June 6.15pm
“Sustainability and Environmental Liability”
Speaker:  Ian McGrath
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Tuesday, 1 July  6.30pm
Joint SCL/Society of Construction Arbitrators meeting
“Is it all necessary?  Who benefits?  Provision for multi-tier dispute resolution in international construction contracts”
Speaker:  Ellis Baker
Chairman:  Nerys Jefford           
Venue: National Liberal Club, London SW1 

London Speaker Programme

Feedback and suggestions for speakers and topics continue to be gratefully received by the organising committee: Nerys Jefford, Nicholas Gould ad Paula McKinley.

SCL Mauritius

On 21 November the Society of Construction Law in Mauritius was formed.  Nicholas Gould attended the Fifth Annual Construction Law Conference in Mauritius, not only to speak, but also to represent the Society of Construction Law.  SCL Mauritius was formally launched at the conference. The first Chairman of SCL Mauritius is Kailash Dabeesingh kdabeesingh@intnet.mu.  Sixty seven delegates provided their support to the formation of the new society.

SCL Mauritius has adopted a constitution which is almost identical to that of the UK, and so the main aims of SCL Mauritius are to encourage education and participation of not onlyconstruction professionals but also lawyers in the area of construction law.

Lunch at the Brewery

Members and their guests are invited to the Society’s annual lunch at The Brewery, Chiswell Street on Friday, 22 February 2008.  We are delighted to announce that the speaker at the event will be Sandi Toksvig:  writer, broadcaster and presenter of Radio 4’s News Quiz.  The ticket price of £65 per person is the same as last year and, in addition, the Queen Charlotte will be available for after lunch drinks, which will avoid the disappointment of last year when some of our members and guests were asked to vacate their tables.

Please note that only paid up members can make bookings and that all places will be allocated on a first paid, first served basis.  Block bookings by firms will be limited to 2 tables each (tables can seat 10 people).  The booking form is attached to this newsletter and it is also available on the website.

Website Survey

Many thanks to the 185 members who at the time of writing had completed the online survey about the SCL website.  Much useful information was gathered which will help in tailoring the new site more closely to the needs of members.

General responses showed that most members do not visit the site more than once or twice a month, but most find the site quite useful.  Of the current features on the site, papers and event information scored highest. Only about 30% of members use the members database to look up contact information about other members, and less than 20% use the online booking system for events.

Of the new features proposed, a good search engine ranked highest, followed by an email notification service for new content. 30-40% of members are interested in online forums, but less than 10% would use RSS feeds or blogs.

Nearly half of respondents said they were ready to discuss their ideas with the webmaster, and 100 said they would be ready to help with testing the new website when the prototype is ready.  We are also grateful that 46 members said they would be interested in helping keep the site up to date.

It is too early to be certain when the new site will be ready, but it is hoped that it will be in the second quarter of the year.

If any members still wish to fill in the survey, it can be found at http://www.scl.org.uk/members/survey.php

Edward Peters,
SCL webmaster

Subscriptions

The 2008 Membership Renewal invoices were posted during Decembers to all full members and we are grateful to the many members who have already renewed their subscriptions for this year.  If you have not received your invoice, please contact Jackie Morris atadmin@scl.org.ukwho can email a duplicate to you.

Please note that, to keep admin costs to a minimum, we particularly welcome payment direct through our secure website.

Overseas e-members have been sent an email reminder requesting renewal of membership online.

A Charitable Donation

SCL has been offered a complete leather bound set of Building Law Reports, volume 1 to year 2006,  to help find a new home for them.  There is no charge for the set, but the donor wishes to send on a cheque to the charity Cancer Research UK.  Whoever takes the reports will need to arrange for collection from the donor’s offices near Gatwick.

Any member who would like to have this set of reports should send an email to admin@scl.org.uk, with the words “Building Law Reports offer” in the Subject Field, and stating the amount they are prepared to donate to charity in return.  The member who offers the largest donation gets the set.

Offers should be made before the end of January.

Opportunities for Sponsorship - SCL International Conference 2008

As previously reported, the Society of Construction Law is delighted to be hosting the 2008 International Construction Law Conference in London.  The conference will be held between 5th and 7th October 2008 with a welcoming event on the Sunday evening, a gala dinner on the Monday evening and the President’s reception on the Tuesday evening so please make a note in your diaries. 

This event will attract many high profile speakers and SCL members and delegates from around the world. In order to ensure its success the SCL will be making available a limited number of elite sponsorship packages. If any of you would be interested in discussing sponsorship packages for this prestigious event please contact Frances Whitehead at franceswhitehead@scl.org.uk

SCL Papers

At the end of last year, the following papers were published on-line:

D85  "Judicial Appointments and the Business of Judging" by Baroness Usha Prashar CBE and HH Judge Frances Kirkham;

D86  "To Melville Dundas, or not to Melville Dundas?" by Mr Justice Robert Akenhead; and
D87  "Using Advanced Forensic Animations to Resolve Complex Disruption Claims" by Keith Pickavance.

Enclosed with this newsletter is a copy of paper number 143 "The Obligation to Co-operate: What does this involve?" a paper given by the late Alan Shilston in June 1992, edited and reprinted in memory of the author.

Spring/Summer Diary of Events

Enclosed with this newsletter is a copy of the pocket sized Diary of Events.  The Diary gives details known at time of going to press.  For constantly updated information, please check the ‘Events’ section of the website.

CIC

Following the talks on the contract given in London last October and in Edinburgh at the beginning of November, the CIC Consultants' Contract and CIC Scope of Services was published on 10th December.  Further information can be obtained from CIC (www.cic.org.uk).

Advocacy Course 2008

The Society is pleased to announce that it will be holding its Advocacy Training Course again this autumn.  It will be run at a location in central London over five evening sessions during November/December.  The course is open only to SCL members who are solicitors and will entitle each advocate to claim 12.5 CPD hours.  For further details, contractvicky.lee@dundas-wilson.com 

 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 – and where you can choose to have the newsletter emailed to you instead of (or as well as) receiving it by post.  This is where you can also search for information about 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 new members who joined the Society in December:

Muhammad Amjad, Oldham                          
Bernadette Barker, London
Sarah Bristow, London                                               
Robert Burns, London
Graham Dick, Warrington                               
David Doyle, Ultimo, Australia
Paul Edwards, Swindon                                              
Isobell Griffiths, Glasgow
Guy Higginbottom, Halesowen                                   
Eric Hong, Taipei, Taiwan
Charles Ingmire, London                                
Adebowle Olufeko, Lagos, Nigeria
Scott Ramsden, Dubai, UAE                           
Paul Starkey, Maidenhead
Ted Williams, South Bank, Australia

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