by Hardwick Legal | Mar 25, 2020 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<article data-sf-ec-immutable=""><p>Sarah Schütte of Schutte Consulting Limited discusses the issues on site due to the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) and some of the practicalities facing the construction industry.</p></article><h3>Why are construction sites still open and should they close?</h3><p>Do whatever you can to avoid the risk of coronavirus. That’s what the government led by Boris Johnson, as sagely advised by Sir Patrick Vallance (Government Chief Scientific Adviser) and Chris Whitty (Chief Medical Adviser), are saying. As of
Monday 23 March, ‘stay at home’ became an order, enforceable by emergency police powers.</p><p>And yet, construction sites remain open. Why?</p><p>It comes down to the complexity, and harshness, of life in construction. Many coal-face workers are individuals on day rates. They may be British, European or from elsewhere, it doesn’t matter. For them, the risk of the virus is less important
than the need to earn, to have that clutch of cash in the hand at the end of the day. Organisations ‘up the chain’ know this but are turning a blind eye—funders won’t release access to a facility unless progress is made
(and shown, usually to their own (ie engaged by the funder) monitoring agent or similar clipboard-wielding official). Progress can’t be made and shown until the whole chain delivers—employer, contractor, sub-contractor, sub-sub-contractor,
labourer. And so the problem is pushed down and down until it reaches the bottom. Where the brickie, or sparkie or chippie or welder is actually doing the work.</p><p>A programme manager that I talked to yesterday said:</p><blockquote><p>How do you maintain social distance when your contract programme assumes clear access to a work face, but </p></blockquote>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
Industry insight: Should construction sites close due to coronavirus (COVID-19)?
by Hardwick Legal | Mar 11, 2020 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<p>Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak MP, delivered the Budget 2020 on 11 March 2020. We bring together the most important features for infrastructure, housebuilding and the planning regime.</p><p>The full text of the Budget 2020 is available <a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2020-documents" target="_blank" title="Opens in a new window">here</a>.</p><h3>What are the Budget’s headlines for infrastructure?</h3><p>The Budget commits the government to a total of £640bn of gross capital infrastructure investment, including:</p><ul><li>investment of over £27bn in English strategic roads between 2020 and 2025, to be known as the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2), to take forward schemes such as dualling the A66 Trans-Pennine road and upgrading the A46 Newark bypass, building
a new dual carriageway and a two-mile tunnel in the South West to speed up journeys on the A303 and to remove traffic from the setting of Stonehenge, and building the Lower Thames Crossing</li><li>investment in urban transport of £4.2bn for five-year funding settlements for eight Mayoral Combined Authorities (in West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Liverpool City Region, Tyne and Wear, West of England, Sheffield City Region
and Tees Valley), to support a range of schemes, to be determined by elected Mayors<br></li><li>£1bn for the Transforming Cities Fund, to deliver various local transport schemes by 2022–23, including a new Central Park Bridge in Plymouth, and a significant increase in the capacity of the Tyne and Wear Metro. It includes around £800m
for bus and cycling infrastructure<br></li><li>funding of £5.2bn for flood defences between 2021 and 2027, and additional funding of £200m to help communities most at risk of flooding recover<br></li><li>investing £20m to develop the Midlands Rail Hub, progressing plans for a major programme of improvements to rail services across these regions<br></li><li>investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure to ensure drivers are never more than 30 miles from a rapid charging station</li></ul><p>A Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Infrastructure Fund </p>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
The Budget 2020—infrastructure, housebuilding and planning announcements
by Hardwick Legal | Mar 5, 2020 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<p>In <i>Yuanda v Multiplex</i> <a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/construction/document/316762/5Y9P-65M3-GXFD-84WY-00000-00" target="_blank">[2020] EWHC 468 (TCC)</a>, the Technology and Construction Court held
that a bond, based on the ABI Model Form of Guarantee Bond, was a performance bond and not an on demand bond. It also held that an adjudicator’s decision (as to the sub-contractor’s liability to the contractor for delay damages) would
be sufficient to establish liability to pay under the bond.</p><section><h3>What are the practical implications of this case?</h3><p>The case provides an example of the court construing security to determine whether it is an on demand bond or a performance bond. More information on the differences between these two types of bond can be found in Practice Notes: <a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/construction/docfromresult/D-WA-A-AVW-AVW-MsSAYWC-UUA-UZEYAAUUW-U-U-AUUU-U-U-U-ACYZUAABYW-ACYBCEWAYW-DABCCUCUA-AUUU-U/5/linkHandler.faces?psldocinfo=Court_construes_bond_based_on_ABI_Model_Form__Yuanda_v_Multiplex_&ps=null&bct=A&homeCsi=412012&A=0.36730383704940217&urlEnc=ISO-8859-1&&dpsi=0OJQ&remotekey1=DOC-ID&remotekey2=0OJQ_151268&service=DOC-ID&origdpsi=0S4D">Performance bonds—construction projects</a> and
<a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/construction/docfromresult/D-WA-A-AVW-AVW-MsSAYWC-UUA-UZEYAAUUW-U-U-AUUU-U-U-U-ACYZUAABYW-ACYBCEWAYW-DABCCUCUA-AUUU-U/5/linkHandler.faces?psldocinfo=Court_construes_bond_based_on_ABI_Model_Form__Yuanda_v_Multiplex_&ps=null&bct=A&homeCsi=412012&A=0.36730383704940217&urlEnc=ISO-8859-1&&dpsi=0OJQ&remotekey1=DOC-ID&remotekey2=0OJQ_152491&service=DOC-ID&origdpsi=0S4D">On demand performance bonds—construction projects</a>. The finding that the bond in question was a performance bond was not surprising, and the court had reached the same conclusion in respect of a bond based on the ABI Model Form in <i>Ziggurat v CC International </i><a data-sf-ec-immutable="" href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/construction/document/316762/5R73-9ND1-F0JY-C517-00000-00" target="_blank">[2017] EWHC 3286 (TCC)</a>.</p><p>The ruling also indicates that, where a performance bond requires the amount of damages to be established in accordance with the underlying contract, a valid adjudication decision may well be sufficient for this purpose (depending on the breach in
question).</p></section><h3>What was the background?</h3><p>Multiplex, the main contractor on the ‘One Blackfriars’ tower project in London, appointed Yuanda as its sub-contractor under a JCT Design and Build Sub-Contract 2011. Yuanda provided a bond to Multiplex based on the ABI Model Form of Guarantee
Bond. The sub-contract works were delayed and Multiplex commenced an adjudication against Yuanda seeking to recover substantial liquidated and ascertained damages (LADs) for delay levied against it by Multiplex’s em</p>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
Court construes bond based on ABI Model Form
by Hardwick Legal | Feb 26, 2020 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<article data-sf-ec-immutable=""><section><p>Energy analysis: Maria Connolly, partner at TLT Solicitors, discusses the Energising Our Electric Vehicle Transition report, published by the Electric Vehicle Energy Taskforce, and analyses the various proposals and strategies which are intended to facilitate the growth of electric vehicles (EVs) while minimising the impact on the UK’s electricity system.<font size="-1"></font></p></section></article><section><p><i></i></p><section><h2><mark id="CITEID_802658"></mark>What is the background to this report?</h2><p>The UK is committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Road transport is a key piece in that jigsaw, accounting for 25% of total greenhouse gas emissions and 28% of all energy consumed in the UK.</p><p>Electric Vehicles (EV) sales are increasing and there are now some 70,000 EVs on the UK’s roads. However, the UK remains in the early stages of the transition to EVs, with EV market share having reached around 1.3% of new car registrations.</p><p>The government’s Road to Zero strategy, released in July 2018:</p><ul><li>set an ambition that all new cars and vans would be effectively zero emission by 2040</li><li>noted that the most credible technology currently available is the plug-in EV, and</li><li>recognised that the electrification of road transport could increase today’s electricity consumption by around 30% by 2050</li></ul><p>The government set up the Electric Vehicle Energy Taskforce (Taskforce) to investigate and propose ways to manage the transition to EVs. Energising Our Electric Vehicle Transition is the Taskforce’s report on these issues.</p></section><section><h2><mark id="CITEID_802659"></mark>What are the key issues/priorities raised in the report?</h2><p>The Taskforce’s work has focussed on two key challenges: effectively managing the impacts on the electricity system and providing consumers with a good EV charging experience.</p><p>The Taskforce believes smart charging to be essential to managing the first challenge by providing benefits to the wider electricity system. The second is to be overcome by adopting a strong consumer focus in all aspects of the transition to EVs, but specifically by achieving smooth interoperability between different EV models and charging infrastructure and by ensuring the availability of a significant network of ultra-fast charge points.</p><p>Accordingly, there are three key priorities running through the proposals made in the report:</p><ul><li>agreeing common standards and codes of practice to enable interoperability and the sharing of data within the EV sector and with the </li></ul></section></section>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
Examining the proposals put forward by the Energising Our Electric Vehicle Transition report
by Hardwick Legal | Feb 26, 2020 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<p>The fast-growing online finance community ‘Finimize’ recently brought together a panel of industry insiders to discuss the future of renewable energy in a world still powered predominantly by oil and gas. While the event was aimed primarily at investors, it provided an interesting insight into the feasibility of the energy transition. <br></p><p>Panellists included Forbes Mitchell, a member of Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures (SAEV) Europe, Rebecca Williams, a Policy Manager at the renewable energy trade association RenewableUK, and Bas Sudmeijer, a partner and managing director at Boston Consulting Group. While the latter two share a positive outlook on the ability of renewables to undercut and disrupt the market for traditionally-sourced energy, Forbes Mitchell believes that industry giants such as Saudi Aramco, will remain profitable investments for the foreseeable future.</p><h2>Investing in renewable energy</h2><p>The panellists laid out the current themes influencing energy markets - increases in global demand for energy, growing awareness of the risks associated with warming climates, carbon pricing, and the rapid growth and resulting drop in prices of commercial-scale renewable energy generation – all of which represent underlying risks to the oil and gas industry that are now being priced into its valuation. <br></p><p>Next, barriers to a successful transition to renewable energy were discussed – the huge financial cost of sunk assets, the </p>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
A Waste of Energy? The Big Shift to Renewables.
by Hardwick Legal | Feb 13, 2020 | Purpose Built (LexisNexis)
<p><u></u></p><p>Excellent presentation and discussion on ‘How Effective is Environmental Regulation?’ This week at the Law Society, hosted by Castle Debates with the support of UKELA.</p><p>Presenters included Professor Bob Lee, Director of the Centre for Legal Education and Research at the University of Birmingham, who gave a conceptual answer to the question; Professor Maria Lee, Professor of Law at UCL, who concluded that to be effective, regulation has to be enhanced by scrutiny and a politically and legally supported institutional framework of individuals and NGOs; and Peter Kellett, Legal Director at the Environment Agency, who spoke in defence of good, solid regulation which he argues is vital for addressing environmental emergencies. </p><p>After the presentation, the floor was opened to questions and lively debate. Will the Environment Agency operate a ‘lighter touch’ in terms of enforcement post-Brexit? Peter Kellett considers that the enforcement approach of the EA is unlikely to change, but emphasised the importance of spending available funds well, and ‘in the rig</p>
Source: LexisNexis Purpose Built
How Effective is Environmental Regulation?
