Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
sufficient notice of delay from the contractor?
Fromtimetotime,questionsariseaboutthestatusofsitemeetingminutes.Afavouriteques-
tion is whether they constitute a written instruction of the architect as required by the JCT
and other standard contracts. The answer is probably that they do, provided that the minutes
are drafted by the architect. A more bizarre question is whether minutes are written applica-
tions by the contractor in respect of direct loss and/or expense. The answer to that is clearly
that they are not, even if they record that the contractor asked for loss and/or expense at the
meeting, unless the contractor actually drafted the minutes.
A related question is whether a note in site meeting minutes could be a notice of delay to
comply with clause 2.27.1 of SBC. The clause requires the contractor to give written notice
forthwith whenever it becomes reasonably apparent that the progress of the Works is being
orindeedislikelytobedelayed.Thisquestionwasgivenshortshriftbythecourtinarecent
decision:
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Ialsoconsider that thewritten notice mustemanate from[thesub-contractor]. Thusfor
example an entry in a minute of a meeting prepared by [the project manager] which
recorded that there had been a delay . . . would not in my judgment by itself amount to
a valid notice under cl.6.1. The essence of the notification requirement in my judgment
is that [the main contractor] must know that [the sub-contractor] is contending that rel-
evant circumstances had occurred and that they have led to a delay in the sub-contract
works.
In that case, an amended MF/1 form of contract was used between main contractor and sub-
contractor, but the principle of a written notice was similar to what is required under JCT
contracts.Anythinginadocumentwrittenbysomeoneotherthanthecontractorclearlycan-
not be the contractor's written notice. However, there seems no reason to doubt that if a
progress report is presented in writing to the architect at a site meeting, that report would
suffice as a written notice, provided it contained the relevant information required under the
contract. Any reference to it in the site meeting minutes would be no more than a reference.
The notice would be the report itself.
