Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 15
Claims Under ACA 3
15.1 Introduction
In October 1982 the Association of Consultant Architects published a Form
of Building Agreement (ACA), together with an associated Form of Sub-
Contract. It was drafted by one of the original co-authors of this topic,
Professor Vincent Powell-Smith. A second and substantially revised edition
of the ACA form (ACA 2) was published in 1984. This second edition took
account of criticisms made of the first edition, and in parts it was substan-
tially redrafted. The ACA form can be used for 'design, develop and con-
struct' contracts, as well as more traditionally where the architect produces
all the design and construction information. It can be used with or without
bills of quantities but, rather oddly, the use of the Standard Method of
Measurement has been ignored. It contains a number of alternative clauses,
and it is highly flexible in use. It was revised again in relatively minor
aspects in 1990, more significantly in 1995 and in 1998 the third edition
(ACA 3) was published to take account of the Housing Grants, Construction
and Regeneration Act 1996. Further revisions have been made, the latest at
the time of writing was in 2003.
The ACA form has been the target of much criticism from the contracting
side of the industry and, unfortunately, it has not become as widely used as
the ACA had hoped. In fact, it is a useful contract form and the powers and
duties of the parties are clearly set out. Since the ACA form is not a
negotiated document (unlike the JCT forms) it will be construed by the
courts
contra proferentem
. This means that any ambiguities in it which are
not capable of being resolved by any other method of construction may
be construed against the employer, whose document it is. The JCT forms are
agreed by the whole industry; the ACA form is not. When a contractor
enters into a contract in the ACA form, he will be entering into a contract on
the employer's 'written standard terms of business' for the purposes of
section 3 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, because any employer
who utilises the ACA form makes it his own document in law, just as if
he had employed lawyers to draft a special contract for him.
The claims provisions of the ACA form - both as regards money and
extensions of time - are different from the corresponding JCT provisions
and, indeed, the provisions of other standard forms. In its first alternative,
the extension of time provision is narrower than under JCT forms, to the
extent that such things as adverse weather conditions, strikes and delays or
