UK

Shouyu Chong

July 2024

A paper based on the second prize winning entry in the Hudson Prize essay competition 2023

This paper asks whether the parties’ autonomy to subject themselves to mediation and ADR provisions is limited because such provisions may prove to be unenforceable in court. The arguments presented bridge the gap in understanding the enforcement of mediation and ADR provisions, particularly from a transnational perspective.

William Haslam

July 2024

A paper based on the winning entry in the Hudson Prize essay competition 2023 and presented to the Society of Construction Law on 2nd July 2024

The recent case of URS Corp v BDW Trading Ltd asks the question: when does a cause of action accrue in tort for a defectively designed building where no damage has yet occurred? The starting point for this question is the House of Lords decision in Pirelli General Cable Works Ltd v Oscar Faber & Partners.

Andrew Singer KC

April 2024

A paper presented to the Society of Construction Law in Guildford on 29th February 2024

The paper provides an overview of the TCC’s summary procedure for enforcing unpaid adjudication awards and analyses one approach to challenging such awards which has been employed by non-paying parties: use of a Part 8 claim, to seek the court’s final determination of a self-contained legal issue which arose in the adjudication.

Robert Fenwick Elliott

March 2024

A paper presented to the Society of Construction Law in London on 5th December 2023

The paper suggests a scenario – you act for a contractor who has not been paid for his work. You read the contract and find no contractual entitlement. What should you do? The author’s suggestion is that you should run through a checklist of possible extra-contractual routes to recovery: misrepresentation, implied terms and damages for breach of contract, prevention/time at large, estoppel, impossibility, and penalty and relief from forfeiture.

Adam Robb KC and Jess Connors

March 2024

A paper presented to the Society of Construction Law in Manchester on 1st February 2024

This paper identifies some key issues from 2023 construction cases, in particular in relation to limitation. In URS Corporation v BDW Trading Ltd, the Court of Appeal looked at when a cause of action accrues, grappling with Pirelli v Oscar Faber, and the question of whether a developer can be owed a duty under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972.

Christopher R Seppälä

September 2023

A paper presented to the Society of Construction Law in London on 5th December 2023

The paper describes a striking difference between the common law and the civil law, which is the existence in French civil law of the right of the contractor to make claims against a state entity on grounds that have no counterpart in the common law. This will apply in the case of contracts with state entities, regardless of whether or not it is provided for in the contract.

The first prize winning entry in the Hudson Essay Prize 2020 which was presented to the Society of Construction Law on 7th September 2021.

This paper assesses the Hudson formula, a formula created over 50 years ago that provides a means of calculating a contractor’s lost contribution to head-office overheads and profit as a result of delays to completion of a construction project.

Gavin Wilson

June 2023

A paper based on the commended entry in the Hudson Prize essay competition 2022

The paper looks at the issue of whether a penal liquidated damages clause can operate as a cap on general damages. It summarises the law on penalties and examines two recent TCC cases: Eco World, in which O’Farrell J stated obiter that a penal liquidated damages clause would cap a claim for general damages, and Buckingham, in which Mr Nissen KC stated obiter that general damages would be uncapped.