Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
It is quite common for a contractor to show a date for completion on the programme that is
before the date for completion in the contract. It is never very clear why a contractor should
do this, because the programme cannot alter the contract date for completion. All the pro-
gramme does is to inform the employer and architect that the contractor intends to complete
beforethecompletiondate.Thecontractorisentitledtodothisbecauseclause2.4statesthat
it must complete the Works 'on or before' the completion date.
By asking whether the architect must 'work towards this new date', the questioner can
be referring only to three important situations: The most obvious is the provision of further
information to the contractor; another is responding to a notice of delay under clause 2.28,
where the architect, in deciding whether to give an extension of time, is to consider whether
completion of the Works is likely to be delayed beyond the completion date; the final im-
portant situation is the architect's obligation under the same clause 2.28 to notify the con-
tractor about an extension of time decision no later than the completion date. Other matters
relate to the date of practical completion, which ought to be the same as, but which is not
necessarily connected to, the contract completion date. The contract date for completion is
thedatebywhichthecontractorundertakestocompletethewholeoftheWorks.Thedateof
practical completion is the date by which virtually the whole of the Works are, as a matter
of fact, complete.
Todealwiththeprovisionofinformation first,thecourtshaveheldthatalthoughthecon-
tractorisentitledtocompletebeforethecompletiondateinthecontract,theemployerhasno
clause 2.12.2. This clause stipulates that in providing further information, the architect must
have regard to the progress of the Works. This means that if the contractor is progressing so
as to complete by the completion date, the information must be provided at such times as
will enable the contractor to finish the Works on time; but if the contractor is making slow
progress, the architect is entitled to slow the delivery of information to suit. However, the
clause proceeds to state that if the contractor seems likely to finish before the completion
date, the architect need only provide information to enable it to complete by the completion
date.
The second and third situations deal with extension of time and assume that everyone
knows the completion date. The only way in which the architect's responsibilities under
clause2.28canbeaffectedisifthecontractor'sprogrammeshowingcompletiontwomonths
