‘Pitiless’ Cardiff builders given jail sentences – BBC News
‘Rogue builders who scammed older people out of over £70,000 have been given jail terms at Newport Crown Court.’
BBC News, 4th July 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Category: construction industry
Construction blacklist compensation scheme opens – BBC News
‘Eight construction firms have announced the launch of a scheme aimed at compensating workers who were victims of past blacklisting in the industry. Under the scheme, workers on the list would be paid £4,000 on a fast-track basis rising to £20,000 if they can prove discrimination. In more serious cases, up to £100,000 could be awarded.’
BBC News, 4th July 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Hopkins Developments Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government – WLR Daily
‘Guidance as to how the principles of natural justice operated in the context of a planning inquiry under the Town and Country Planning Appeals (Determination by Inspectors) (Inquiries Procedure) (England) Rules 2000.’
WLR Daily, 15th April 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Expert determination: Hidden pitfalls – Hardwicke Chambers
‘Expert determination is a process in which parties to a contract jointly instruct a third party to decide an issue between them. Its advantages are self-evident: quick, cheap, informal and contract-based, it has obvious attractions and can be found in many commercial contracts.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 3rd April 2014
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Patel and another v Peters and others – WLR Daily
Patel and another v Peters and others [2014] EWCA Civ 335; [2014] WLR (D) 147
‘Where the surveyor of a party involved in a dispute over building works affecting adjoining properties served a request under section 10(7) of the Party Wall etc Act 1996 on the surveyor of the other party that he act effectively in respect of the subject matter referred to in the request within ten days, after which, if he did not so act, the requesting surveyor became entitled to act ex parte in respect of the matter, a continuing state of affairs was created so that the other party’s surveyor might still act effectively after that ten-day period, thereby precluding the requesting surveyor from acting ex parte, provided that the requesting surveyor had not yet proceeded so to act.’
WLR Daily, 27th March 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
John Jenkins: Aylesbury conman builder jailed in absence – BBC News
‘A builder who conned a “vulnerable and lonely” Hertfordshire widow out of £532,695 has been jailed for six years in his absence.’
BBC News, 26th February 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
High Court ruling means that challenges to arbitral awards in court remain difficult if parties have agreed to arbitrate, says expert – OUT-LAW.com
‘A recent decision by the Technology and Construction division of the High Court has underlined how unlikely it is that a court will interfere with an award made by an arbitration tribunal.’
OUT-LAW.com, 19th February 2014
Source: www.out-law.com
Court of Appeal decision on limitation periods could have adverse consequences for contracting parties, says expert – OUT-LAW.com
‘A recent court decision which changed the point at which the six years within which a contractor must begin litigation in the courts starts to run could lead to uncertainty for the successful party to an earlier adjudication, an expert has said.’
OUT-LAW.com, 12th December 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
The Supreme Court on “prohibitively expensive” costs: Aarhus again – UK Human Rights Blog
‘This is the last gasp in the saga on whether Mrs Pallikaropoulos should bear £25,000 of the costs of her unsuccessful 2008 appeal to the House of Lords. And the answer, after intervening trips to the Supreme Court in 2010 and to the CJEU in 2013, is a finding by the Supreme Court that she should bear those costs.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 11th December 2013
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
R (on the application of Edwards and another (Appellant) v Environment Agency and others (Respondents) – Supreme Court
Supreme Court, 11th December 2013
Aspect Contracts (Asbestos) Ltd v Higgins Construction Ltd – WLR Daily
Aspect Contracts (Asbestos) Ltd v Higgins Construction Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 1541; [2013] WLR (D) 463
‘On a true construction of an implied term in a construction contract a party was entitled, following an adjudication in which it had been the loser, but where it maintained that it had made an over-payment, to bring proceedings for repayment; and the applicable limitation period ran from the date of the over-payment.’
WLR Daily, 29th November 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Liverpool Chandlers Wharf crane collapse driver’s £2.7m compensation – BBC News
“Construction firms are to pay about £2.7m in compensation to the driver of a crane that collapsed in Liverpool, leaving him paralysed.”
BBC News, 5th November 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Glendalough Associated SA v Harris Calnan Construction Co Ltd – WLR Daily
“Where, in adjudication proceedings brought pursuant to the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, the referring party did not assert in terms that the agreement in question was made otherwise than in writing, section 107(5) of the Act was not engaged.”
WLR Daily, 21st October 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Construction firms to compensate workers whose names were on blacklist – The Guardian
“Major construction companies are to compensate workers whose names were on a secret industry blacklist. The dramatic development follows years of campaigning by unions after it was discovered that more than 3,200 names, mainly of building workers, were kept on the list, drawn up by a shadowy organisation called the Consulting Association.”
The Guardian, 10th October 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Parties to civil litigation need more guidance on costs, says expert, as High Court declines to approve “disproportionate” budgets – OUT-LAW.com
“Parties to litigation in the civil courts need more guidance about what constitutes an ‘appropriate’ costs budget and the consequences of not meeting the requirements of the new costs management regime, an expert has said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 8th October 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
Genesis Housing Association Ltd v Liberty Syndicate Management Ltd for and on behalf of Liberty Syndicate 4472 at Lloyd’s – WLR Daily
“The inadvertent naming of the wrong builder in a proposal form for insurance against latent defects including cover for the insolvency of the builder during the construction of social housing units, constituted a breach of warranty entitling the insurers to avoid the policy.”
WLR Daily, 4th October 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
High Court judge expressly declines to approve “disproportionate” costs budgets – Litigation Futures
“A High Court judge has expressly declined to approve the costs budget of both sides of a construction dispute on the grounds that they were ‘disproportionate and unreasonable’.”
Litigation Futures, 4th October 2013
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
Companies that blacklist workers face ban from public contracts in Wales – The Guardian
“Companies that blacklist workers for taking part in trade union activity face being barred from multibillion-pound public sector contracts under plans unveiled by the Welsh government.”
The Guardian, 11th September 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Pre-Construction Consultation and the Futility of Dispensation – Hardwicke Chambers
“Generally, any landlord who wishes to enter into a qualifying long term agreement (‘QLTA’), viz. an agreement for a term of more than 12 months (subject to certain exceptions) as a result of which any tenant will pay a service charge of more than £100 (‘the appropriate amount’) for the relevant service charge period, must either consult in accordance with the Service Charges (Consultation Requirements) (England) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/1987) (‘the Regulations’) or obtain a dispensation from the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) (‘PC’). Failure to consult will result in the relevant service charge being capped at the appropriate amount.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 13th August 2013
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Adjudication decision declared invalid for serious breaches of the rules of natural justice – 4 New Square
“The grounds for impeaching an adjudication decision are extremely limited. However, Mr Justice Akenhead recently held that ABB Ltd. v BAM Nuttall Ltd [2013] EWHC 1983 (TCC), as one of those relatively rare cases in which reliance by the adjudicator on a clause of the subcontract between the parties – which neither party argued (let alone mentioned to the adjudicator) and which he did not refer to the parties before issuing his decision – was a material breach of the rules of natural justice.”
4 New Square, 30th July 2013
Source: www.4newsquare.com
