Tag:construction projects

1
When is a Collateral Warranty a “Construction Contract”?
2
Construction and Projects in Qatar: Overview
3
COVID-19: EPC AND EPCM IN LARGE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS POST COVID-19
4
Pennsylvania Construction Amid COVID-19

When is a Collateral Warranty a “Construction Contract”?

By Kevin Greene and Ruth Chang

Abbey Healthcare (Mill Hill) Limited v Simply Construct (UK) LLP [2022] EWCA Civ 823

The Court of Appeal in this case considered when a collateral warranty will be regarded as a “construction contract” under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (the “Construction Act”). 

The key take away points are as follows:

1.  In deciding whether a collateral warranty is deemed to be a “construction contract”, one has to look at the obligations being warranted.  If a collateral warranty seeks to guarantee obligations in relation to “past and static state of affairs” only, it is more akin to a product guarantee and will not be construed as a “construction contract”.

To provide guidance on this, the Court provided an example of such “product guarantee” wording:

“We completed these works two years ago and we warrant that they were completed in all respects in accordance with the Building Regulations…”  

2.  To qualify as a “construction contract”, the collateral warranty will have to warrant both past and future performances.

In this instance, the collateral warranty in the Abbey Healthcare case relates to both future-looking and retrospective obligations (i.e. wording of “has performed and will continue to perform” is included); hence the collateral warranty could be construed as a “construction contract”. 

In deciding this, the Court also commented that the lack of certain words (for example, “acknowledge” or “undertake”) in the relevant warranty, had little relevance in swaying the Court in finding whether the collateral warranty was a “construction contract”, or not.

3.  In regards to the “payment requirement” under the Construction Act, the Court made it clear that a collateral warranty is likely to satisfy the payment requirements under the Construction Act where the collateral warranty includes a nominal payment arrangement.

 A typical example of a nominal payment arrangement in a collateral warranty will be the inclusion of the wording ““in consideration of the payment of one pound, receipt of which is hereby acknowledged by [the party]…the deed is agreed as follows:”

4.  Assuming that the collateral warranty fulfils the above requirements, it is immaterial as to when it has been executed.   The collateral warranty can even post-date the completion of the works.

5.  The Court of Appeal also emphasised that the definition of “construction contract” under the Construction Act should be given the widest interpretation whenever possible and it is the intention of the legislature to extend access to the adjudication regime to all, whenever possible.  The adjudication regime is very effective in resolving construction disputes (in particular payment disputes) and the 28 days timeframe has proven to be beneficial to the parties on many occasions. 

Commentary

The Court of Appeal has refused permission to appeal the judgment in Abbey Healthcare to the Supreme Court.

It seems, therefore, that a collateral warranty can be a “construction contract” for the purposes of the Construction Act. This will, however, always depend on the wording of the collateral warranty in question.

This case arguably opens up the possibility of adjudication claims in respect of collateral warranties. For beneficiaries of collateral warranties (such as tenants, funders, purchasers and developers) this represents positive news but the effect of the judgment in terms of those providing collateral warranties to such beneficiaries may be that third party rights are offered instead of collateral warranties (on the basis that adjudication may not be available under such third party rights).  

Construction and Projects in Qatar: Overview

By: Paweł Piotrowski, Matthew Walker, and Amjad Hussain

A Q&A guide to construction and projects in Qatar.

The Q&A is part of the global guide to construction and projects. Areas covered include trends and significant deals, the main parties, procurement arrangements, transaction structures and corporate vehicles, financing projects, security and contractual protections required by funders, standard forms of contract, risk allocation, exclusion of liability, caps and force majeure. Also covered are material delays and variations, appointing and paying contractors, subcontractors, licences and consents, project insurance, labour laws, health and safety, environmental issues, corrupt business practices and bribery, bankruptcy and insolvency, public private partnerships (PPPs), dispute resolution, tax, the main construction organisations, and proposals for reform.

COVID-19: EPC AND EPCM IN LARGE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS POST COVID-19

Authors: Pawel Piotrowski and Nicola J. Ellis

COVID-19 has highlighted some of the existing problems in the construction market such as fragmentation, low profitability and often low satisfaction for both owners and contractors (due to time and budget overruns and lengthy claims procedures and disputes). In this article, we consider the choice of the procurement method for large construction projects and issues and risks raised by COVID-19.

EPC

Owners often procure major construction projects on a fixed price, lump sum turnkey contract whereby the contractor is responsible for all engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) aspects of the development by a specified date (subject to a limited number of circumstances which will provide the contractor with relief). Under this arrangement, the EPC contractor directly engages the supply chain and takes responsibility for building and delivering the project so that the owner simply has to ‘turn the key’. Any changes or variations that the owner may require to the original scope provided to the EPC contractor will be at the owner’s risk and therefore it is important to have a high degree of certainty and detail as to the scope of works, and often a detailed design provided by the owner to assist the EPC contractor in providing an accurate price.  

The EPC has many advantages for the owner, including that it places lower management burden on them. It provides a single point of responsibility for the project to the owner and gives the owner and any lenders a high degree of certainty as to the time and cost of the development. Since the owner has recourse against a single contractor rather than having to pursue multiple contractors and suppliers, the dispute resolution process is usually less complicated. The EPC contractor should therefore seek to pass down all main obligations from the EPC contract onto its subcontractors to mitigate its liability position.

In return for taking on a high amount of risk as to time and cost, contractors may reflect this in their pricing and may include a substantial risk premium in the contract price. Owners can mitigate this to some degree by procuring EPC contracts in competitive tenders where the lowest price is often the decisive factor. That, in turn, often results in EPC contracts carrying a risk of change orders / variations which can become very costly to the owners if agreed or potentially catastrophic to those contractors who haven’t included a sufficient risk premium when submitting a low price proposal, leading to a focus on cost control by the contractor.

In these unprecedented times, the risk of force majeure events, effects of a change in law, risk of supply chain disruptions and the risk of integrating the performance of the entire supply chain have posed a particular challenge for contractors.  As a result, contractors may become more reluctant to take on some of these risks and may seek to exclude or set parameters around their liability for such risks or owners may see tenders with higher risk premiums. 

EPCM

Where the owner wishes to retain greater control over the project, the owner may opt for an EPCM contracting structure. 

The EPCM or ‘engineering, procurement and construction management’ contract is a construction management agreement whereby the EPCM contractor is responsible for advising the client on the design and procurement of the project but also for overseeing and managing all construction and supply contracts. An EPCM contract can therefore be seen more as a professional services contract in contrast to EPC contracts which are design and construction contracts. The EPCM contractor does not perform construction work. It is the owner who directly enters into numerous contracts with various contractors and suppliers. 

EPCM has many advantages for owners, including greater flexibility allowing projects to be tailored to current conditions as owners can modify the design or procurement plan mid-project and negotiate directly with the relevant contractors or suppliers. This can mean early engagement of certain packages prior to finalising the scope of work which may result in an earlier completion date. 

The overall price of the project under an EPCM arrangement may be lower as most of the risk priced for in EPC contracts sits with the owner and the owner is able to negotiate with the supply chain itself. 

EPCM also has disadvantages. The administrative burden of the owner directly negotiating and contracting with each of the contractors or suppliers is far greater than under EPC and significant demands are placed on the owner’s skills and resources (although the EPCM contractor may be able to ease this burden). Interface risk and coordination between each contractor or supplier needs to be managed and this often sits with the owner.  Where a dispute arises, this is also more complex for the owner due to difficulties in allocating fault and risk amongst multiple contractors, rather than having a single point of responsibility as under EPC contracts.

However, from our experience, most of these disadvantages can be reduced by way of proper implementation strategy, planning, contracting and management. 

Both EPC and EPCM have advantages and disadvantages but can be beneficial when used in the right circumstances. The objectives, scope of work and risk profile should be clearly understood in choosing which method to use as the cost implications of choosing the incorrect form can be substantial for both parties. 

Pennsylvania Construction Amid COVID-19

Authors: Richard F. Paciaroni, Justin N. Leonelli, and Reymond E. Yammine

COVID-19 has made its way into various industries throughout the world, and Pennsylvania’s construction industry is no exception. All commercial construction activities throughout the Commonwealth, with a few limited exceptions, have been halted indefinitely to assist in mitigating the ongoing spread of the coronavirus. Similarly, construction supply chains in Pennsylvania, the U.S., and abroad have either limited supply or halted material production altogether, which may result in severe construction delays throughout Pennsylvania once construction projects are cleared to continue. Given the current (and likely ongoing) state of flux faced by Pennsylvania’s construction professionals, it is important that contractors familiarize themselves with the state-specific legal concepts currently at play and consider practical efforts to help curtail the economic impact of COVID-19.

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