Construction Management Guide

Exclusive saving for all FIDIC users 

As a CMGuide reader, you’re invited to attend FIDIC’s 26^th annual FIDIC International Contract Users’ conference at a 10% saving.

Indisputably the leading international forum for those wishing to make the most of the FIDIC suite of contracts, this is your annual opportunity for comprehensive best practice advice on using the range of contracts and understanding the implications of the latest contract amendments – directly from the very people who draft and amend the contracts! (Read more..)

By David Johnston

DELAYS on engineering and construction projects are almost inevitable; the more complex the project, the more likely the prospect of delay, and the more chance of two or more delays occurring at or around the same time.

Where the contractor is culpable for the delay, for example, rectifying its own defective workmanship, it is usually not entitled to an extension of time. However, where an employer-caused delay occurs concurrently with the contractor’s culpable delay – for example, where the employer has instructed a variation, and assuming that each of these events is of approximately equal significance – is the contractor now entitled to an extension of time?

Various legal jurisdictions have struggled with this question and come to different positions. Some of these positions are set out in this article, as are some suggestions as to how this debate should inform approaches taken by employers to concurrent delay on construction projects in the GCC.
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By Heba Osman
A common scenario: the Employer is not happy with the Contractor’s performance, whether because of failure to perform the works in the manner provided for in the Contract or because of some other breach of the Contract. The Employer picks up the Contract, which – in the UAE – is usually some modified FIDIC standard form, in search of the termination provision. Most such termination provisions require the Employer to send the Contractor a notice to correct the failure or the breach within a specified period. If the Contractor fails to correct the breach, then the Employer becomes entitled to terminate the Contract. The Employer, feeling confident of its legal position, sends the termination notice. The Employer is satisfied that it has correctly terminated the contract.
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By David Johnston

ONE of the issues that most vexes construction lawyers is that of the standard of care the contractor owes to the employer, that is the degree of skill and caution which the contractor must exercise under the building contract.

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Regardless of how a project team gets assigned, the project manager needs to make sure that the team members have the right skills to complete their assigned tasks. In fact, if the team members do not have all the right skills and the project manager cannot help them acquire the skills, the project would appear to be at risk.
This does not always mean sending a person to class. There are many other learning events that can help, including:
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To help you make the most of their suite of contracts, FIDIC is returning to the Americas for the 2nd FIDIC Americas Contract Users’ conference – the region’s only event that’s officially endorsed by the association. (Read more..)

Have you ever been asked how far along you were on a project? Of course you have. If you do not have a valid schedule, or if you are not keeping the schedule up-to-date, you know that your answer is pretty much a guess. If you have a good schedule and you are keeping it up-to-date, you should have a sense for how much work is remaining and what the projected end-date is. But are you 50% complete? Or 90% complete? It is not always easy to know.

Earned value metrics were established to remove the guess work from determining where you are at in relation to a baseline. Using it allows a project manager to know precisely how far along he is, how much work is remaining, what the expected cost will be, and all sorts of other interesting information. (Read more..)

“An international fiesta for construction industry professionals.”

 Join your international peers at IBC Legal’s most comprehensive construction law event for 3 days of intensive learning and networking

Construction Law Summer School – IBC Legal’s 13^th Annual Conference

3rd – 5th September 2013 – Downing College, Cambridge University, UK

CMguide readers get a 10% saving (Read more..)

by Richard Bell and James Fox

No business wants to enter into a dispute. Disputes are often costly, tie up management time and distract staff from profitable work. In the UAE where a civil dispute is sometimes accompanied by a criminal complaint, a dispute can have a significant impact on key staff, including travel bans and the stress of facing criminal charges. Taking the right action from the beginning of a dispute can help to resolve the dispute faster, more efficiently and at less cost. (Read more..)