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Our Commitment to You

All that Glitters...

Although I’m reluctant to admit it, I have been advising Contractors and Sub-Contractors on buying insurance for over twenty five years. It is a frustrating business and, quite frankly, a thankless task. No wonder I feel so old!

Pay when Paid and Insolvent Employers

"Pay when paid" clauses are supposed to be a concept of a bygone era. Main Contractors would seek to justify their inclusion in a sub-contract by arguing that it should not be the guarantor of payments that are due to pass from an Employer through to the Main Contractor before onward payment to its Sub-Contractors.

The end to HMRC free banking?

As I look through my window on a wet October day in 2009, my thoughts turn to those Contractors and Sub-Contractors for whom holidays are well and truly over - and I am not talking about the bucket and spade variety!

Invalid Suspension, Own Goals and other Disasters

Unless you have just spent the best part of 10 years living in outer Mongolia you will be aware that The Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act (1996) (“The Act”) changed the commercial life of Contractors and Sub-Contractors working in the UK forever when it was introduced here on 1 May 1998.

Business Development

Are you in the construction sector? Need corporate Business Development services? Call The Vinden Partnership on 0845 504 9733 - Chartered Building Surveyors, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Bolton

Insurance Lifeline For Construction Projects

Construction project manager and surveyor, The Vinden Partnership (TVP), has launched a unique Latent Defects Insurance package for completed and partially completed projects where warranties and guarantees are no longer available.

Jacques V Ensign Contractors Ltd

An adjudicator was not in breach of the rules of natural justice if the decision did not address each and every aspect of the evidence adduced by the parties

MBE Electrical Contractors Ltd V Honeywell Control Systems Ltd

The enforcement proceedings brought by the sub-contractor in respect of the adjudicator's decision in its favour should not be stayed to arbitration pursuant to the arbitraton agreement in the sub-contract

Systech International Ltd V PC Harrington Contractors Ltd

The adjudicator was entitled to recover his fees on all three adjudications from the contractor in accordance with the adjudicators decision that it should pay them

Pc Harrington Contractors Ltd V Multiplex Constructions (Uk) Ltd

The sub-contractor was not entitled to the declaration it sought, namely that the contractor would not be entitled in the adjudication it had begun against the sub-contractor to recover damages in respect of its claim that the sub-contractor was in breach of contract by producing defective floors

Ken Griffin & John Tomlinson (T/A K&D Contractors) -v- Midas Homes Limited

The adjudicator?s decision in the sub-contractor?s favour should only be enforced in respect of two of its four invoices by reason of the notice not complying with paragraph 1(3) of the Scheme for Construction Contracts

JW Hughes Building Contractors Ltd v GB Metalwork Ltd

The adjudicator had not breached the rules of natural justice by failing to take action to enable the contractor to deal with the sub-contractor's statement of case and supporting documentation first provided to the contractor at the meeting before the adjudicator

PC Harrington Contractors Ltd V Tyroddy Construction Ltd

The adjudicators breached the rules of natural justice by not determining the sub-contractor's defence as to the true value of the final account and giving the parties the opportunity of being heard on the defence

Levolux Ltd v Ferson Contractors Ltd (Part I)

The decision should be enforced notwithstanding the contractor's contention that it had validly determined the sub-contract and that all sums of money otherwise due under the sub-contract had thereby ceased to be due

GPS Marine Contractors Ltd V Ringway Infrastructure Services Ltd

Comments as to the circumstances in which a responding party’s general reservation as to an adjudicator’s jurisdiction will be effective

Quietfield v Vascroft Contractors (Part I)

The adjudicator's in awarding liquidated damages in the third adjudication was in breach of the rules of natural justice by not having considered the contractor's defence for an extension of time

David McLean Contractors Ltd v The Albany Building Ltd

The challenge to the enforcement of the adjudicator's decision in favour of the contractor on the grounds that the employer had become entitled to liquidated damages and that that entitlement should be set off against the sum awarded to the contractor failed

Quietfield v Vascroft Contractors (Part II)

The adjudicator's in awarding liquidated damages in the third adjudication was in breach of the rules of natural justice by not having considered the contractor's defence for an extension of time

Levolux AT Ltd v Ferson Contractors Ltd (Part II)

The decision that the sub-contractor should be paid a specified sum should be enforced by way of summary judgment notwithstanding the contractor's contention that it had validly determined the sub-contract and that all sums of money otherwise due under the sub-contract had thereby ceased to be due

Ellis Building Contractors Ltd V Goldstein

The consequences and ramifications of the improper submission of "without prejudice" material before an adjudicator

Bryen & Langley Ltd v Boston (Part II)

The adjudication provisions in JCT 98 were not unfair terms for the purposes of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and were therefore binding

Collins (Contractors) Ltd v Baltic Quay Management (1994) Ltd

The propositions advanced by Jackson J in Amec Civil Engineering v The Secretary of State for the Environment (2004) should be accepted and, in particular, the proposition that whilst the mere making of a claim did not amount to a dispute, a dispute would be held to exist once it could reasonably be inferred that a claim was not admitted

Bell Building Projects Ltd V Carfin Developments Ltd

The adjudicator in the second adjudication had not been required to resign on the ground that the in the first adjudication was the same or substantially the same as that determined by the adjudicator in the first adjudication

Herbosh-Kiere Marine Contractors Ltd V Dover Harbour Board

The adjudicator's adoption of his own methodology to assess the contractor's financial entitlement which formed no part of the dispute referred to him without giving the parties the opportunity to comment on it was in excess of his jurisdiction and in breech of the rules of natural justice

More Jaw, Less War

With reports that the Dubai Government is about to pass a law that will require all construction disputes to go through a mediation centre before they can be litigated in the courts, Managing Director of The Vinden Partnership, Peter Vinden, calls for similar action to be taken in the UK.

Insolvency - A Growth Industry

As the subprime crisis in America sweeps across the Atlantic causing a significant credit squeeze in the UK, one of the first sectors in the firing line is construction. Construction across the UK appears to have fallen victim to the economic uncertainty that exists and latest figures show the sector shrinking for the first time in more than six years.

South West Contractors Ltd v Birakos Enterprises Ltd

The adjudicator was not in breach of the rules of natural justice by allegedly having failed to consider its case that the project manager's loss should have been mitigated on the basis that the court should not minutely examine an award to he had made such a mistake

Buxton Building Contractors Ltd v Governors Of Durand Primary School

The adjudicator's decision was unfair by reason of his failure to consider all the issues in dispute and to take into account all the documents and information submitted by the employer contrary to paragraphs 17 and 20 of the Scheme for Construction Contracts

Avoiding Developer Disaster

It never ceases to amaze me how small our world is becoming. Who would have thought events in the American sub-prime mortgage market would have such an effect on our UK banking sector? When was the last time you heard of a run on a UK bank? Am I dreaming? And, what does this actually mean for the UK construction sector?