Construction Foundations newsletter - December 2015

• United Kingdom

• Construction and engineering - Foundations

15-12-2015

Welcome to Foundations, our construction and engineering monthly newsletter. Foundations will update you with details of what we think are the top three court cases decided in the previous month, a summary of important legislation changes or proposals, and a paper providing insight and guidance on a particular area of construction law and practice in the UK (UK insight) and internationally (International Insight). We hope you find our newsletter useful and informative. 

Summary judgment in international arbitrations – to be or not to be? That is the question

This article explores the extent to which summary judgment awards are being used and the procedures available in the context of modern international arbitration.

Read the full article

UK solar industry – impact of proposed changes to Feed-in Tariff regime

Earlier this year, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) conducted a consultation on changes to the Feed-in Tariff (“FIT”) subsidy for renewable energy technologies. One of the Government’s key proposals was to cut the Feed-in Tariff rates for solar PV installations by as much as 87% and, through subsequent incremental cuts, reach a 98% reduction within 3 years.

Read the full article

Scottish Power UK plc v BP Exploration Operating Company Ltd and others [2015] EWHC 2658 (Comm) 

Scottish Power entered into four long-term supply contracts with BP (and others) to purchase natural gas produced from the Andrew Oil & Gas Field in the North Sea. The court found that BP had breached the Supply Contracts by failing to supply gas from the Andrew Field for a period of 3½ years (while work was being performed on pipelines and other infrastructure).

Read the full article

Van Oord UK Ltd and Sicim Roadbridge Ltd v Allseas UK Ltd [2015] EWHC 3074 (TCC) 

Allseas UK Ltd (“AUK”) was engaged as the Principal Contractor by Total E&P UK Limited (“Total”) to carry out both the offshore and onshore construction works involved in the laying of gas pipelines at Sullom Voe, Shetland, which formed part of Total’s Laggan-Tormore Gas Field development.

Read the full article

Matthew Harding v Paice and Springhall [2015] EWCA Civ 1231

In this case, the Court of Appeal considered a situation where the employer failed to issue a pay less notice in response to an application for a final account payment following termination, the contractor commenced a smash and grab adjudication, the employer commenced a second adjudication seeking a valuation of the works.  The question for the Court was whether the employer was permitted to commence the second adjudication.
Read the full article 

Review of the Energy Bill 2015-16

The Energy Bill was introduced by DECC into the House of Lords in July this year and received its first reading in the House of Commons on 6 November 2015.

Read the full article

Construction case law webinar

The webinar is an introduction to the IChemE Red Book form of construction contract (a lump sum contract used in large process plant construction). The webinar focuses on some of the key principles in the IChemE Red Book, in particular, the testing and commissioning regime and the limitations on liability contained within the agreement. There is also a comparison against the FIDIC and NEC forms of contract on those key areas, since those contracts are sometimes used as alternatives to the IChemE Red Book.  

Watch the webinar here

Upcoming webinars

Our January edition will be a case update, focusing on key developments in case law over the past three months. To register, please contact Selina Davies.