All Comment articles 鈥� Page 746
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An offer you can't refuse
Is mediation now mandatory? Well, parties that refuse an offer to mediate without good reason may find they lose out on costs even when they they win the case
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Business as usual
The City largely ignores construction, believing it to be far too risky an enterprise. We should return the compliment and just get on with making money
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Prudence's big gamble
So, what did Gordon Brown do for 鈥� or to 鈥� us in the Budget? Depending on your degree of cynicism, he either put 42 new hospitals in the post, or republicised those already sent. Either way, the good news is that a glistening 21-century NHS will boost employment through ...
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The claimant strikes back
A judge may not like it when a party fails to comply with a court order, but they should think twice before striking out the claim altogether
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Suit yourself
You don't have to go bespoke to get a contract that suits. A nip here, a cut-and-paste clause there, can keep everyone happy. Just be careful with the scissors
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Poor Superman
Referees are supposed to be the superheroes in construction disputes. Now they're just as likely to be cast as persecutor 鈥� before turning into victim
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Built on sand?
Poor housebuilders. For nearly a decade, they've given the City what they thought it always wanted 鈥� year-on-year growth in profits and, latterly, double-digit margins. The response from the Square Mile? Utter indifference. The sector is rated at less than half the stock exchange average. Even contractors, with their 2%-if-you're-lucky ...
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Events, dear boy, events
Life has a way of blowing a hole in a construction programme, but if a draft delay protocol is adopted, contractors will need to get it right from the start.
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IT is not the answer
We all know IT will mobilise construction, giving everyone a faster, better service 鈥� and we are all wrong. In fact, like any tool, it's only as good as those who use it
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Within reasons
If an adjudicator's decision is made up of several conclusions, do those all count as binding decisions as well, or are they reasons? It's a pretty thorny question
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Stuck to your guns?
After you start an adjudication, can you introduce new arguments or fresh evidence? A recent decision suggests not, but clarification is needed urgently
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Labour's philosophical fog
So, health minister John Hutton has suddenly realised what construction knew months ago: it is already too late to deliver his new hospitals before the next election. His offer to subsidise bids, truncate tender lists and hire more Whitehall project managers has, therefore, the hallmarks of political panic (pages 28-29). ...
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Can adjudicators add interest?
According to John Redmond, an adjudicator cannot add interest to a debt unless the contract specifically allows them to. But there's a counter argument to be put 鈥�
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A question of … timing
If you owe me money, and I owe you money, does it make sense to just pay the difference? Let's see how two barristers and a judge sort out this tricky problem 鈥�
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Planned obsolescence
The development industry believes Lord Falconer's planning green paper is ill thought-out and will, ironically, make planning applications even more complicated
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Who owns Russia now?
Doing business in Russia became a lot easier in January after the publication of a "land code". Not that there aren't one or two little problems left 鈥�