Construction Contracts

Order Description
Coursework Assignment Guidelines

The writer is required to attempt the legal problem question and write a word-processed essay on the essay topic below. The weighting as between the legal problem
question and the essay is 50:50.

The following guidelines should be strictly adhered to:

1. All propositions of law referred to in the legal problem question – see section A of the assignment below – should be supported by an appropriate reference to a
case or statute or, in the case of a reference to a standard form of building contract such as the JCT Standard Building Contract with Quantities 2016, by an
appropriate reference to the relevant contract.

2. The word limits for each component of the assignment appear at the end of the relevant section of the assignment. These limits should be adhered to, otherwise the
student will be penalised. Each submission should include a word count.

3. Footnotes/endnotes should be included in the essay. A bibliography should appear at the end of the essay. The bibliography should contain all relevant material
consulted by the student, whether referred to in footnotes or not and material in the bibliography should be arranged under the following headings, where applicable:

Legislation
Case Law
Internet resources
Other resources

Words in footnotes and bibliography should not be included when taking into account the essay word count.

4. Footnotes/endnotes must be used for referencing and further reading only and should contain as little text as possible.

6. OSCOLA standard of citation must be followed throughout the coursework – a separate guideline for OSCOLA has been attached separately.

Coursework Assignment
Section A and Section B are each worth 50% of the entire assignment.

Hence in Section A, Question (1) carries 40% of the marks for the entire assignment and Question (2) carries 10% of the marks. The essay in Section B carries 50% of
the marks for the entire assignment.

Section A
Legal Problem

Rock-Bottom Enterprises Limited (‘Rock-Bottom’) employs Acme Construction Limited (‘Acme’) to build a small office development in the northwest of England. The
governing contract for the project is the JCT Standard Building Contract with Quantities 2016.

The project is dogged with problems from the start. Rock-Bottom refuses Acme access to the site on the scheduled start date, only finally giving access to Acme two
months after the scheduled date of possession under the building contract. Rock-Bottom blames the delay on ‘unavoidable’ legal problems experienced by its solicitors
in finalising the site acquisition. But Acme discovers (from an email which is accidentally copied to its CEO by Rock-Bottom) that Rock- Bottom has been deliberately
delaying completion of the site acquisition. It becomes clear to Acme that Rock-Bottom has been holding out for as long as possible in order to secure the best deal
(in other words, the lowest price) from the seller of the land on which the offices are to be built. As a practical proposition what this means is that Rock-Bottom
does not own the building site at the relevant time and is therefore not in a position to give Acme timely possession.

During this initial two-month period of delay Acme incurs, among other things, abortive labour costs; and is required to renegotiate plant hire contracts. Acme also
has to extend, and continue paying for, temporary financing which was originally put in place to cover the initial weeks around the start of the project. After six
weeks – when a confirmed possession date is still not in prospect – Acme incurs additional costs in obtaining professional advice about where it stands in relation to
loss and expense incurred to date (and projected future loss and expense).

Rock-Bottom eventually completes its acquisition (ownership) of the site and the construction works are commenced. But within a few days of taking possession of the
site Acme is forced to put the works back on hold as the weather has markedly deteriorated. Gale force winds and blizzards arrive, and this is followed by
exceptionally heavy wind and rain which put the brakes on the project for a further fortnight. When the works recommence Acme has to hire in pumps to drain the flooded
site – leading to yet more delay; and there follows an exchange of emails between Acme and Rock-Bottom about who is responsible for the cost of draining the site.
Question (1)

Making specific reference to the JCT Standard Building Contract with Quantities 2016, analyse the steps which Acme should take with effect from the originally
scheduled site possession date (and on the occasion of each relevant occurrence described in the problem scenario) in order to ensure that Acme is legally and
contractually in a position:

(a) to make one or more applications in respect of loss and expense, and

(b) to secure any necessary adjustments or extensions to the originally scheduled date for completion of the works.

[WEIGHTING: 80% OF SECTION A LEGAL PROBLEM AND 40% OVERALL]
Question (2)

Describe and explain, by reference to appropriate and applicable case law, the heads of loss and expense for which Rock-Bottom might be considered to be liable in the
circumstances narrated.

[WEIGHTING: 20% OF SECTION A LEGAL PROBLEM AND 10% OVERALL]

[Note that an answer that attempts to apply contractual provisions or legal principles to the specific facts of the problem scenario will attract a higher mark than an
answer that does not.]

Word limit for Section A Legal Problem: 2,000 words (plus or minus 10%)

Section B
Essay Topic

In the case of Deko Scotland Limited v Edinburgh Royal Joint Venture and Others [2003] SLT 727 Lord Drummond Young comments, among other things, that adjudication
‘possesses the critical features of arbitration and is therefore a form of arbitration’. [Emphasis added.] Write an essay giving consideration to whether you agree or
disagree with this comment. You should give particular consideration to whether adjudication might possess elements of expert determination that move it away from Lord
Drummond Young’s arbitration-based model towards something of a ‘hybrid’ model that combines elements both of arbitration and expert determination.

Word limit for Section B Essay Topic: 1,500 words (plus or minus 10%)