Japanese knotweed was introduced to the UK in the 19th century as an ornamental garden plant. It had been used in Japan to stabilise sand banks and there have been suggestions that it was similarly employed to stabilise embankments in the UK. Lacking the competitors, diseases and animals that keep it in check in its native range, Japanese knotweed’s uncontrolled and invasive nature quickly allowed it to become a pest in the UK. As only female plants were introduced, no pollen was available from male plants to allow fertile seeds to develop. Consequently, almost all knotweed in the UK has spread from small fragments of plant material (mainly roots) that have been transported to new locations in knotweed-contaminated soil. Knotweed grows rapidly underground and pushes up annual shoots each spring. The roots and shoots are capable of exploiting gaps in buildings and hard surfaces such as concrete and tarmac, which can cause significant damage to them over time. The root system of knotweed can be very deep (a few metres) and spread several metres from the aboveground stems. Not

1 The Contractor agrees that it will not without first giving the Beneficiary not less than [twenty-eight (28)] days’ notice in writing exercise any right it may have to terminate the Building Contract or to treat the same as having been repudiated by the Employer or to discontinue the performance of any obligations to be performed by the Contractor under the Building Contract. The Contractor's right to terminate the

Produced in association with 4 Pump Court This Checklist sets out some of the key issues that a responding party should consider upon receipt of a Notice of Adjudication. This includes whether there are grounds for a jurisdictional challenge—if so, the responding party will need to take certain steps in order not to waive its right to bring the challenge (either in the adjudication or during enforcement proceedings). Detailed guidance on jurisdictional issues can be found in Practice Notes: Grounds for a jurisdictional challenge in an adjudication and Making a jurisdictional challenge. Are there possible grounds to dispute the adjudicator’s jurisdiction? Relevant considerations at the initial stage include: • the contract: ◦ is there a contract between the parties to the adjudication and has it been correctly identified in the Notice of Adjudication? See Practice Note: The Notice of Adjudication (What should the Notice of Adjudication contain?) ◦ have the correct contracting parties been named in the Notice of Adjudication? • entitlement to adjudicate: ◦ is the contract

This week's edition of Construction weekly highlights includes a Court of Appeal (CA) case in which the CA considered the meaning of ‘total cost’ in a contract for interior design services (Alebrahim v BM Design London Ltd), a case in which the Technology and Construction Court (TCC) found that the defendant building contractor was liable to the claimant homeowners for damages for defective works and losses consequent on termination (Struthers v Davies), the publication of a report by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on the use of technology in international arbitration, an update on the progress of the Building Safety Bill, and the publication by the New Engineering Contract (NEC) of a practice note on its secondary option (X22), ‘Early Contractor Involvement’.

This Settlement Agreement is made on [insert date] (the ‘Settlement Date’) between the following parties (each a ‘party’ and together the ‘parties’): Parties 1 [insert name of party A] a company incorporated in [England and Wales] whose company number is [insert company number] and whose registered office is at [insert registered office] ('[Name of party A]'); and 2 [insert name of party B] a company incorporated in [England and Wales] whose company number is [insert company number] and whose registered office is at [insert registered office] ('[Name of party B]'). Background (A) The parties entered into a construction contract dated [insert date] for the [insert description of works/project eg ‘design and construction of a property known as Bloggs House'] (the ‘Contract’). (B) The parties are engaged in a dispute[ regarding [insert details of the dispute, including

EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contracts are frequently drafted to be turnkey agreements—the contractor builds the works and all the employer has to do is turn the key to the finished plant. The employer's aim in such contracts is to pass almost all of the potential risks inherent in the project to its EPC contractor with the contractor pricing the contract accordingly. Nevertheless, the contractor can still make claims under turnkey contracts in specific circumstances. This Practice Note considers the types of claims that EPC contractors can make, the procedure for bringing a claim or resolving a dispute regarding a claim and the points to consider when negotiating the contract in relation to such potential claims. Possible claims EPC contracts are generally drafted so that the majority of the risks rest with the contractor. There are good commercial reasons for this—price escalation can cause financing difficulties if funding for the project is insufficient to cover substantial price increases. Equally, the employer may have entered into agreements that require project completion by a certain date, eg where

This week's edition of Construction weekly highlights includes the release of the 2024 edition of the Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) Repair and Maintenance Contract, a case in which the High Court found that an expert determination clause was separable from the underlying contract (Dandara v Medway), a case in which the Court of Session was required to decide on which terms governed contracts made under a framework arrangement (Caledonia Water Alliance v Electrosteel), guidance from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) regarding scope determination appeals under the Building Act 1984, an announcement from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) of the publication of the 2024 amendments to the Standard Professional Services Contract 2020 (SPSC 2020) and the Domestic Professional Services Contract 2020 (DPSC 2020), technical guidance published by the Welsh Government in relation to the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023), and the eighth quarterly CO2nstruct Zero Performance Framework report published by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC).

What is a letter of intent? Letters of intent are used in construction and engineering projects to allow the employer to mobilise a contractor before the employer is in a position to enter into the full building contact. The letter may only instruct the contractor to progress design and procurement in relation to the project, or it may authorise works to be commenced on site. Letters of intent vary in their form and complexity. A very simple letter of intent might only confirm a party's present intention to enter into a contract for construction works in the future. In the absence of anything else, such a letter forms nothing more than a non-binding statement of present intention, akin to a comfort letter. However, most forms of letter of intent used for modern construction contracts are much more complex and seek to create contractual relationships between the parties. See Turriff Construction v Regalia Knitting Mills (1971) 9 BLR 20 (not reported on LexisNexis®). Modern letters of intent usually set out the employer’s intention to enter into a contract with the

In answering this Q&A, research has been limited to cover where a company has correctly signed one copy of a contract but the attestation clause for execution by the other party is not correct. Execution of contracts/deeds Companies can execute deeds in their own name and in their own right by way of: • fixation of the company seal • signature of two authorised signatories • a director in the presence of a witness who attests to the director’s signature (section 44 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006)) As with execution of simple contracts by a company, authorised

This Practice Note covers what ready, willing and able means and the consequences of serving an invalid notice. A party who is ready, willing and able to complete can serve a notice to complete and make time of the essence so that the contract may be rescinded. The Standard Conditions (SCs) and Standard Commercial Property Conditions (SCPCs) set out the procedure for service of the notice. While it primarily covers commercial property matters, it also touches on residential considerations. Time is generally not of the essence for completion of a contract for the sale of land. If the seller or the buyer delays completion, the defaulting party will be liable in damages (and for compensation under the standard conditions) but cannot rescind until time is made of the essence of the contract. It is for the party who is ready, willing and able to complete to make time of the essence by serving a notice to complete. If a valid notice to complete has been served and completion does not take place by the deadline (usually

This week's edition of Commercial weekly highlights includes: analysis of the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the appeal in Great Asia Maritime Ltd v Orion Shipping and Trading LLC holding that a buyer is entitled to recover loss of bargain damages where the buyer terminates a contract following a delay in delivery caused by the sellers’ proven negligence, a High Court decision in Trinsic Collagen Ltd v Procoll Ltd finding that the limitation and exclusion clauses were reasonable under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and therefore enforceable and news of the Competition and Markets Authority’s revised guidance on unfair contract terms.

Construction analysis: The Technology and Construction Court (TCC) rejected a professional negligence claim brought by a homeowner against an interior designer, finding that the homeowner had not overpaid for the works under the parties’ contract, and that it had failed to establish any entitlement to damages for loss of use of the property, while the project overran.