School of Civil Engineering and

Student Registration Number:

Surveying
Course: C2170 F/P
Date Set: 25/10/2018
C1659 F/P
U23423: Construction Law, Contracts and Dispute
Lecturer: Richard Wise Date Due: 15/02/2019
Resolution
Artefact: Coursework 1: Client Brief Ref: U23423/1 Weighting: 50%

Objectives:

1. To prepare students for the commercial environment by appraising the various approaches
which may be utilised to implement & manage various contractual arrangements.
2. To justify an informed choice when considering how to resolve or avoid a complex dispute or
difference.

Task Outline:

The task is to prepare a professional report not exceeding 4,000 words in length, referenced
appropriately, relating to the contractual remedies and practical solutions which may be available to the
project team in the event of a substantial delay caused by an unexpected issue on site as described in
the scenario below.

Scenario:

You are a firm of construction consultants covering various disciplines including quantity surveying and
project management. Your team has been engaged to carry out both PM and QS roles by the University
of Portsmouth in the development of proposals for a project to demolish the existing Burnaby building
and replace it with a new building with the same footprint as existing but one floor taller.

There are existing electrical and IT services within the building which will have to be incorporated into
the new building but will have to be temporarily maintained or relocated as these feed other buildings
on the campus.

a. Before the existing building can be demolished, the current staff and equipment will need to be
moved out and accommodated elsewhere before work can commence, moving either to
existing buildings or temporary facilities or a combination of both – you need to consider the
options and give the client some options on how you could facilitate either approach and
provide for this within the contract documentation.

b. The Client has asked if there might be a possibility of obtaining staged access (maybe floor-by-
floor?) in order to commence fitting-out to enable staff to occupy their new offices.

c. The services (power and IT in particular) may require disconnection of the whole campus
temporarily in order to effect switch-overs. The client is concerned at the disruption which this
may have on the operation of the existing campus and has asked how this work could be
incorporated into the contract in order to minimise any ‘down-time’.

d. The Client is concerned about the possibility of a fire occurring on the building site, spreading to
the adjacent buildings and impacting on the existing users, who will be in occupation during
construction of the new building. This is particularly important if you incorporate any form of
staged completion which means sharing the part completed building whilst it is being finished.
 e. The client is worried about how the site can be made safe while students and staff are using the
remainder of the campus.

f. When the existing building was constructed, asbestos was still permitted in construction work,
the client has asked for advice on how to go about meeting their statutory duty with regard to
the potential existence of asbestos and provisions for removal of any asbestos which is found.

g. The client normally uses JCT 2011/Q as their preferred standard form of contract however they
are aware that this was updated in 2016. They have asked you for a summary of the benefits of
using JCT 2016 instead of JCT 2011 and have also asked if you would recommend using NEC4?

Analyse and evaluate the implications of these client issues, considering the advantages and
disadvantages of the various options for each and propose suitable solutions for incorporation in the
contract documentation.

Coursework submission and deadline:

Coursework should be submitted electronically through the Moodle drop box in accordance with SCES
rules by the deadline shown above as a single .pdf file.

Learning outcomes (numbers relate to the Unit Descriptor Learning Outcomes):

1. Appraise the mechanisms by which the law relevant to the construction professional is enacted
and developed.
2. Critically discuss the obligations most commonly imposed by law; those arising from the
contract or negligence of the parties.
4. Assess and evaluate contract principles and relevant case law relating to construction disputes
and assess the management needs resulting from these particular issues, recommending the
most appropriate procedures and remedies available to the parties to a dispute.

Reading / References:

Your submission should be in a professional report style, so there is unlikely to be a substantial amount
of academic referencing although you will need to refer to contract clauses.

Any academic references you use should be properly cited and referenced in accordance with the
Harvard APA method.

Grading scheme:

(LO2): Critical consideration of the obligations and issues required to be identified within the contract in
the circumstances described: 25%

(Part LO4): Assessment of the contract principles relating to the scenarios given and evaluation of the
contractual solutions to the issues: 25%

(LO1): Evaluation of the practical aspects of the constraints and desired outcomes and judgement of
appropriate solutions: 25%

(Remainder LO4): Comparison of the differences, or similarities, between JCT 2011 with quantities and
2016 with quantities: 10%

Presentation: professional report format with appropriate referencing: 15%

Mark Sheet:

The COMPLETED mark sheet must be included at the front of your submission. There are many websites
which can join .pdf files into a single .pdf, or you can download one of the free pdf management
programmes from the web. Corel Fusion and Adobe Acrobat are available on University computers.

THIS SUBMISSION MUST BE UPLOADED TO MOODLE THROUGH THE DROP BOX - DO NOT SUBMIT A
PAPER COPY TO THE SCES OFFICE

Filename MUST be as follows: Student Number (just numeric do not put UP at the front)_U23423_Coursework 2019

Example:

789123_U22423_Coursework 2019
 School of Civil Engineering Student Registration
and Surveying Number:

Coursework self-assessment sheet for Date:

students
Unit Name U23423: Construction Law, Contracts & Dispute Resolution

Artefact Coursework 1: Report

The University of Portsmouth regulations require students to keep electronic copies
of all assignments, and submit these at any time upon request.

Student comment: I have read and understood the University's regulations on plagiarism please type an x
Student Evaluation
Criteria Description Weighting (to be completed before submission)
% (enter an x in required boxes)
Pass Fail
A* A B C D E F
Critical consideration of the obligations and issues required to be
25%
identified within the contract in the circumstances described.
Assessment of the contract principles relating to the scenarios given
25%
and evaluation of the contractual solutions to the issues.
Evaluation of the practical aspects of the constraints and desired
25%
outcomes and judgement of appropriate solutions.
Comparison of the differences, or similarities, between JCT 2011 with
10%
quantities and 2016 with quantities.
Presentation: professional report format with appropriate referencing. 15%

Letter Grade Percentage

Overall Grade (A* - F) (100 0)
(to be completed before submission)

Key: A*: 80% or above, A: 70% - 79%, B: 60% - 69%, C: 50% - 59%, D: 40% - 49%, E: 30% - 39%, F: 29% or less
IMPORTANT: See separate Grade Criteria for characteristics of work in the above grades

Student Comment
(to be completed before submission)