Legal

Juliette Enser is senior director of cartels at the Competition and Markets Authority In March, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) fined 10 construction firms nearly £60m for illegally colluding over £150m-worth of private and public sector contracts. This was just the latest example of our focus to root out…

Matthew Cocklin is a partner at Devonshires Solicitors On 24 July, the Responsible Actors Scheme (RAS) was launched in England using powers conferred by the Building Safety Act (BSA) 2022. The RAS is a scheme that eligible developers may join. Members are required to identify and remediate (or pay for…

Stuart Bosley is managing director of quantum and project advisory at engineering consultancy DeSimone In a resolute move towards enhancing fire-safety measures, the government has taken significant steps in response to the lessons learned from the tragic Grenfell Tower fire. Towards the end of 2022, a proposal was published to…

Hazel Cox is an associate and Fraser Askham is a partner at CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang The Court of Appeal has considered a joint-names insurance policy taken out by an employer that was expressed to provide cover greater than required by the building contract. In FM Conway Limited v…

Mark London is a partner at law firm Devonshires In June 2022, the Building Safety Act (BSA) introduced several new remedies for those who wish to either recover the cost of remediating buildings or to compel a landlord to remediate the building. These new remedies ranged from extending the period…

Neil Boothroyd is an adjudicator, arbitrator and mediator at consultancy Gateley Vinden The Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) enforces the importance of better industry practices – including the accurate recording and storage of building-safety information – following the tragic Grenfell Tower fire of 2017. To regulate standards, the BSA has…

Francesco Albanese is a trainee solicitor and Lucy Hawley is an associate at law firm BCLP Betterment has rarely been advanced as a defence in English courts until now, post-Grenfell, with the advent of building-safety defect claims. This article takes a closer look at this principle.   “Betterment claims are notoriously…

Patrick Duggan is a senior associate at law firm RWK Goodman Time in legal proceedings is a complex concept. The calculation of how and when to do something may be different depending on whether you are in court, arbitration or adjudication. But help is at hand, with some clarity on…

Chris Bowes (pictured above, left) and Matthew Taylor are partners at law firm CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang  The decision of the secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities to refuse planning permission for the demolition and rebuilding of Marks & Spencer’s western Oxford Street store was met…

With the government promoting the use of PAS 9980 as a means of assessing risk to external wall systems (and thereby the extent of any remedial work or mitigation required), the difference between contractual rights and remedies and the impact of PAS 9980 is now coming into sharp focus. For…