Licences

Licences

Licences are entered into for various reasons in connection with construction projects.

Licences are used to give the owner of property a means of giving permission to a third party to access, occupy and/or use their property (or part of it) for a period of time and for specific purposes so that the third party (typically the contractor) is not trespassing by accessing that land for those purposes.

The most common licences entered into in respect of construction projects are:

•
oversail licence—licence entered into between a developer and/or its contractor and the owner of adjoining land over which the contractor’s crane needs to oversail (ie travel over) to give the developer and/or the contractor the adjoining owner’s permission for the crane to swing over their land and to agree the terms of use of the crane. See Practice Note: Oversail licences and Precedent: Crane oversailing licence—with tenant.
•
scaffold licence—licence entered into to allow the licensee to erect scaffolding for the purposes of its works on land belonging to a third party (ie not the developer’s land), giving permission for the scaffolding to be erected on

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Construction weekly highlights—12 February 2026

This week's edition of Construction weekly highlights includes Technology and Construction Court (TCC) decisions on whether one party in an unincorporated joint venture can refer a dispute to adjudication (Darchem Engineering v Bouygues), striking out the defence in a claim for defective work in proceedings where the defendant withdrew at the last moment (One Hyde Park v Laing O’Rourke), and whether to grant an injunction restraining payment under a performance bond (Northen Gateway (FEC) No.7 Ltd, intervening), a decision from a Louisiana federal judge compelling arbitration in Dubai after the DIFC-LCIA arbitration centre’s abolition, regulations to correct an error in the Welsh text of both the Building Act 1984 (Commencement No 1) (Wales) Order 2025, SI 2025/1367 and the Building Safety Act 2022 (Commencement No 6) (Wales) Regulations 2025, SI 2025/1368 (Building Act 1984 (Amendment of Commencement Order No 1) and Building Safety Act 2022 (Amendment of Commencement Regulations No 6) (Wales) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/20), the Scottish Government’s publication of minutes of the Building Safety Levy Expert Advisory Group (BSLEAG), the release of New Procurement Act guidance on contract payment information, and a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) report regarding UK construction activity in Q4 2025.

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