tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24080361550109683852024-03-13T05:33:32.580+00:00Forensic ConstructionForensic construction is the application of science to decide questions arising from legal disputes over the way in which structures have been built; especially with regard to the type and quality of the structure, materials, and workmanship.Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-54235100531673801212020-08-22T12:51:00.006+01:002020-08-22T13:14:04.978+01:00Well Built? A Forensic Approach to the Prevention, Diagnosis and Cure of Building Defects<p><span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;">Recently came accross an insightfull book review:</span></p><p><span face="" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">Robert Houghton-Evans’ book
on building problems comes on top of a long tradition, despite its almost
flippant title, 'Well Built?'. Early texts relating to the subject included
Lucretius who said</span>, “soft droppes of rain pierce the hard marble” and the New Testament
where the faithful were advised to build on rock in preference to sand.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">
Fast forward to 1976 when Mr. Eldridge gave more modern advice, listing the
principles that can be applied to every construction defect situation. Then in
1989 the P.S.A. widened the scope to include specific problems, in a rather
unwieldy tome called Defects in Buildings. The B.R.E.’s Building Elements
series, intended to replace Eldridge, applies his principles to actual
buildings, examining up to date techniques and materials. This technological
approach is complimented by publications on professional practice and by case
law, so putting it simply, there are three streams of writing on the subject of
building defects: Science, Law and Practice. However until now there has been
nothing specifically to engage or encourage busy people involved in creating or
maintaining buildings, who unexpectedly find themselves involved in a defects
dispute and heading towards their solicitor for advice.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">
Well Built? was commissioned by the RIBA to bridge this gap between practice,
technology and law. The book begins with the question implicit in the title,
the intricacies of which are confidently probed, illustrated and explained in a
readable format using case studies, photographs and even cartoons. Distinct
chapter titles guide the reader to the area they need, the three chapters on
errors before, during and after construction are particularly useful.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">
Previous books trod the paths of the design and technological aspects of
building defects. In ‘Well Built?’ the author looks at these with very
experienced eyes and not a little humour, but goes further along the trail,
examining the legal and financial implications of a building not being ‘Well
Built.’ The legal significance of terms like ‘Damage and Remedy’ are clearly
explained and the chapter on ‘Litigation and the Alternatives’ is reassuring.
The role of the Expert has a chapter all to itself, this is a particular area
of the author’s expertise.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">
Robert W. Houghton-Evans began working with buildings in his teens,
accompanying his architect father and assisting in an architects’ practice in
Leeds. He trained at the Architectural Association in London and worked on
Milton Keynes new town and in top private practices, transferring many of his
skills to the field of building defects. By the time the RIBA commissioned him
to write this book Robert had become an acknowledged authority in the field.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">
Reviewing Well Built for the Institute of Structural Engineers, Nick Huband
recommends the book as suitable for “any member of a design team whether as a
recent graduate or as a more senior practitioner carrying out a forensic
investigation with the prospect of litigation in mind.” Here Huband
acknowledges the author’s aim to produce a book which allows any person who
finds themselves involved in a building dispute to get an oversight on how to
approach technical problems and understand the legal implications.</span></p><span face="" style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
Well Built is written in clear enough language for an interested lay person to
find it helpful and it could also be a useful teaching aid. In three hundred
odd pages no book could give the most detailed technical or legal study of
every construction problem, but ‘Well Built’ very successfully gives a handle
on most. The author even future-proofs his text with the advice that, in an
ever changing industry, the construction professional should never assume that
what was good enough yesterday will be satisfactory tomorrow.</span>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-50554858512089549222020-02-14T12:55:00.000+00:002020-02-14T17:14:30.781+00:00Architect Vindicated<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">It is natural to help your friends and neighbours without
setting out written terms and confirming everything done in writing. In this
case, it cost the good neighbour substantial legal fees, time and distress for which complete
vindication in court and the award of indemnity costs does not adequately compensate.</span><br />
<br />
As an expert witness in a long running claim against as architect, I have witnessed what, in my
experience, is one of the most vexatious and convoluted construction litigations of recent times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2013 an architect gratuitously
assisted a couple who she knew as friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The 'friends' fell out and sought to blame all involved, eventually
resorting to claim against the architect for negligence in contract and tort.<br />
<br />
The case was heard in 4 courts in succession. The first was
in the TCC where a breach of contract claim was dismissed but a duty of care in
tort was upheld. This judgement allowed that a tortious duty of care could
embrace both acts of commission and of omission. At appeal, the judgement was
qualified to exclude liability in tort for acts of omission.<br />
<br />
The claim was
largely based on assertions that the defendant was negligent for not doing
things that were promised or which an architect ought to have done. By thus qualifying the 1st judgement, the Court of Appeal
removed the basis for pursuing the claims in negligence for what the defendant
did not do. Nonetheless, claims of negligent omissions were, with some
rephrasing, maintained.<br />
<br />
For example, the claimants originally said there was no
fault in the defendant’s drawings but that she was negligent for not producing
technical drawings. They then rephrased the claim averring the drawings were
technical drawings and as such were defective in that they lacked construction
details.<br />
<br />
A similar reversal was in the budget argument. Originally the
claimants denied being told the budget was £130,000 and that, had they been
told this, they would not have proceeded. The first court found it evident that
they were advised more than once of the budget. In response they changed the
claim to be that they relied on the advice that the budget was £130,000 and
that this was a negligent underestimate of cost.<br />
<br />
The dispute returned to the TCC where the claim was dismissed
after some 6 days of examining lay and expert witnesses. Cost were awarded to
the defendant on the standard basis which award was appealed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Presiding over the appeal court, Lord Justice
Coulson noted the claim had “<i>echoes of the bad old days</i>” when
construction litigation “<i>was a byword for expense and delay, and where the
costs were often out of all proportion to the sums at stake</i>”. On 6 February
2020, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in favour of the architect,
concluding that the architect ought to be awarded indemnity costs because (i)
the claimants advanced speculative/weak claims; and/or (ii) they unreasonably
refused to accept a Part 36 offer which was made early in the proceedings which
they subsequently failed to beat.<br />
<i></i><br />
<i>The effect of
an order requiring payment of costs on the indemnity basis is to disapply the
requirement that, in addition to costs being reasonably incurred, they should
also be proportionate to the sums and issues at stake in the litigation and
that, in the event of the assessment judge having a doubt as to whether or not
an item of cost has been incurred reasonably, the benefit of such doubt should
go to the receiving rather than the paying party.</i><br />
<i></i><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-44779574495075022732018-12-08T14:14:00.000+00:002018-12-09T13:07:57.535+00:00Professional Negligence in Tort – Sods Law or a Landmark Victory<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Being accused of negligence is troubling enough but for an
architect to be accused of ruining construction when not appointed, and to have
done so even when not there, might worry the most confident practitioner.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This inventive claim, concerning a back
garden, lead to a landmark case on liability for professional negligence in
tort.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Background</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTIMsiZ4yzJFOfEFjk4WL7_iBfIOB2CNRAfsV8-2CzlLKOPpwx9ISrjxrTD5Mer5nLcxYJ3gbKIfIAmVmNktsEb9xvi8JmQ7JIfbxS83u0wEUIROJyY71ENaMA97vsfrctOTGFmE8LRb-4/s1600/DSCF1751+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="865" data-original-width="1600" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTIMsiZ4yzJFOfEFjk4WL7_iBfIOB2CNRAfsV8-2CzlLKOPpwx9ISrjxrTD5Mer5nLcxYJ3gbKIfIAmVmNktsEb9xvi8JmQ7JIfbxS83u0wEUIROJyY71ENaMA97vsfrctOTGFmE8LRb-4/s400/DSCF1751+%25282%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">At the request of a married couple who were her friends, an
architect asked a builder if he could terrace a hilly back garden as shown on a
gardener’s drawings. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The architect had
offered her services but to avoid professional fees the couple did not agree
this offer. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Out of friendship she helped
get the work underway without requesting payment.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The builder began shaping
the clay banks. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Shortly thereafter the couple
fell out over cost, sacked the builder and, dispensing with the architect,
continued the ground works with an unsupervised sub-subcontractor. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>With stalwart consistency, the couple then
dismissed the sub-subcontractor to be left with incomplete work and much mud.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Taking advice from others, in so far as
advice could be procured at no cost, the couple threatened to sue in turn, the
contractor, the sub-contractor, the sub-sub-contractor and finally the
architect.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This last they did. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Preliminary Hearing</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZoqkAMaLE5_V9ln3sbX1QS7qMrRHuOpNdt2fHqbt49HHmk90Gl0VuxdEQkhha4uESJ1qxaEHv5ynhqzEa0B0mwEiWwcYhox6sxTCcolNKC5BZ24XG3t-cbQ4ujS4rOhT3qqDtabQEC05/s1600/DSCF1745+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: transparent; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="834" data-original-width="1600" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZoqkAMaLE5_V9ln3sbX1QS7qMrRHuOpNdt2fHqbt49HHmk90Gl0VuxdEQkhha4uESJ1qxaEHv5ynhqzEa0B0mwEiWwcYhox6sxTCcolNKC5BZ24XG3t-cbQ4ujS4rOhT3qqDtabQEC05/s400/DSCF1745+%25282%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">A trial of preliminary issues was held with the following
results:<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Because of ambiguity and lack
of consideration, the architect was not under contract.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Her role was sufficiently akin to a
professional relationship for the court to affirm her common law duty of acting
with reasonable skill and care.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The judgement
was expressed in such a way that an architect’s liability in tort appeared to
be no less than that which would exist under a contract for the provision of professional
services.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Thus, an architect could be liable
under tort for failing to perform services which she had not contracted to provide and for which she was not paid.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>This was appealed.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Appeal</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The appellant court clarified this judgement as follows:
there was no duty to design, budget or inspect.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Insofar as she did perform a professional service, her duty was to do
this with reasonable skill and care.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Liability, if any, therefore turned on the
facts and the matter returned to the TCC for a full hearing.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Global claim and pure economic loss</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The couple’s case included a global claim and pure economic
loss.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The courts cautioned against the
global claim but allowed it to be heard.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The appeal court confirmed liability in tort could extend to pure
economic loss where a professional service, for which responsibility has been
assumed, is performed negligently. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Say the
architect had intervened while supervising the work and negligently directed the
construction with the consequence that it failed causing economic loss, then
there would be a clear case of liability. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Lack of clarity</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Undeterred by adverse judgements and mere logic, the claimants
confused what was done before and after dismissing the architect, and blamed her
for every supposed defect, positing that her absence was as detrimental as was her
presence and that she was the root cause of all their woes. This muddying of
the case proved unhelpful in court.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Final Hearing</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The claim was divided into two parts: i) defective
construction and 2) deviations from the design.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The defendant was accused of negligence in: project management, design,
supervision, budgeting and cost control.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Much of the evidence of defects in the claimants’ statement
of case was based on the opinions of a builder, a surveyor and an engineer, none
of whom they called to give evidence in court.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The claimants’ architect expert had not seen the work.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I had inspected the work.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I
could advise the court from direct observation that that part of it, which was
done while the architect was involved, was acceptable.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Deviation from the design occurred only where
errors in the garden designer’s drawing made this unavoidable.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I could not say the same of the subsequent
work which was clearly of a different standard.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The judge recognised that the architect’s involvement was
terminated when the wife found out that the budget was higher than her husband
had told her and not because of any perceived fault in the works.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The husband denied agreeing a higher budget
than known to his wife and claimed the architect had not given him this budget
and that if she had he would not have proceeded.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This assertion was dismissed at the 1<sup>st</sup>
hearing.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The claimants then decided not
only to accept they knew the budget but claimed that they had relied on it.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Their claim evolved to include an assertion
that the budget produced by the architect was unachievably low and negligently
prepared.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They felt they had been seduced
into a project which, had they known the real cost, they would not have started.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>As a consequence, they argued, the whole of
their losses arose out of the architect’s negligent pricing.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The judge noted both the inconsistencies between the
claimants’ evidence and contemporaneous documents and the inconsistencies in
the history of the claim which changed after each hearing to circumvent adverse
rulings.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He condemned the scatter gun
approach to the claim and its lack of clarity.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The claim failed on every point but may have succeeded in doing what the
judge astutely noted as; “</span><em><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; margin: 0px;">To pursue this claim suggests
that the Claimants seek to punish the Defendant for her alleged negligent
mistakes rather than seek fair and reasonable compensation …</span></em><span style="font-family: "calibri";">”. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Being dragged through 5 years of vexatious litigation
is punishing. </span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHKCPT0R505rdQRP7nz4-0BhzYR-anakgJ19L5JGfevujFLS17hG5FuWkM-2xuB0vyvpPQ-8YY9CAwB3jEsnc970EXwJLjxCZGoMWHdhwf_izDU2sFXSnWFcfHZRTDZ7IILfDaJ9aXKIvs/s1600/DSCF4843+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="660" data-original-width="1600" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHKCPT0R505rdQRP7nz4-0BhzYR-anakgJ19L5JGfevujFLS17hG5FuWkM-2xuB0vyvpPQ-8YY9CAwB3jEsnc970EXwJLjxCZGoMWHdhwf_izDU2sFXSnWFcfHZRTDZ7IILfDaJ9aXKIvs/s400/DSCF4843+%25282%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The unsubstantiated
claims of unsafe work evoked images of imminent landslip threatening to bury
the claimants in their house.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The result
was a landslide victory for the defendant.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The garden is finished but, with 5 years of litigation, at what cost?</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;">
<br /></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-67905924378012790652018-11-06T12:30:00.000+00:002018-11-06T12:30:06.386+00:00In an age when architects no longer coordinate designs and builders no longer accept responsibility for the building, how do you make sure a building is weatherproof?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">From the outset of my career as an architect, I found it regarded
as a normal and essential part of the architect’s role to coordinate the design
team and integrate architectural, engineering and specialist designs into a
working whole.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>More recently, as a
forensic architect, I find troubled projects where the project architect’s role
is diminished, leaving no member of the design team with overall responsibility
to coordinate the team and check the compatibility of each specialists’
contribution to the design.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This was
brought out recently in a design and build project which leaks.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The general contractor blamed separately: the
architect, the brick laying sub-contractor and the curtain walling
sub-contractor for the failure.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The main contractor entered a contract under which it was
responsible for design, supply and build and then subcontracted all of the
work.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When the finished building leaked,
the contractor took the stance that, as it had not in fact designed or built
anything, it must be blameless and fault must lie with its consultants and
subcontractors. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The architect sought to distance himself from the
problem.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>As is typical under a design
and build contract, the architect was given a limited brief and even more
limited fee.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Accordingly the architect
stated; <i>‘We do not approve drawings, we only provide the design intent and a
visual concept, along with our understanding of how things go together’.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></i><span style="margin: 0px;">Despite
the usual mishmash of project managers, coordinators, etc. no one had been
charged with the task of checking the compatibility of each consultants’ and
specialists’ designs with each other.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Without
establishing the causes of the leaks, the general contractor withheld money
from all whose work might be at fault.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">How does rain penetrate a masonry walls?</span></span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">By their nature, masonry walls are not waterproof.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The specification, design, detailing and
construction of walls should be tailored to local weather conditions.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The likely severity of rain driving through
masonry can be assessed from the wall spell index</span><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/0442f01611748692/archive/Dortech/article.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: blue;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
<span style="margin: 0px;">- t</span>he more severe the exposure, the
more vital the correct detailing.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Particularly important is the detailing of d.p.c.’s, joints and
junctions.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">D.p.c.’s have limited ability to bond to mortar and, especially
if dry bedded, may form continuous capillaries to draw water in.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Even without d.p.c.’s, water may enter
through the microscopic labyrinth of voids at mortar to masonry junctions and
through movement cracks.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Inappropriate
detailing, such as recessed mortar joints, can further worsen performance.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Even well designed and built masonry walls may leak if
connected to poor roof details.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Parapets, poorly jointed copings and the lack of overhangs, drips and d.p.c.’s
commonly let water into walls but may go unnoticed until emerging it manifests
itself as damage. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Where does the water
go?</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once water has entered masonry walls, it may spread unseen
and reappear as leaks, typically at places where the masonry construction is
interrupted, such as: floors, doors, windows, etc.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is a common problem in cavity walls.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Good practice is to design on the basis that
water will penetrate the outer leaf of cavity walls and run down the wall cavities.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>To prevent damage, weep holes and cavity
trays are customarily installed to drain water harmlessly to the outside.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Careful detailing is required to prevent water damage where
the masonry is interrupted.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Water
running through masonry and wall cavities may not be noticed until it flows
onto lintels, window heads, etc. and causes visible damage.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This often leads too readily to the
assumption that glazing systems are faulty or incorrectly installed as this is
where the water damage is seen.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>With good design and supervision, glazing and
masonry can be combined without problems but when it does go wrong, informed
inspection and simple testing can reveal the causes of water damage, allowing
effective repair and the correct apportionment of blame.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;">Getting it right</span></h3>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Successful teamwork is engendered by good planning and
management with clearly allocated responsibilities and effective
communication.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Empowering skilled
designers and tradesmen to work well as a team requires leadership,
organization, proper funding and timely payments.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Designs should be well prepared in advance
and developed in work as required.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This
happens when tradesmen and professionals develop mutual respect and have the
resources to work together as and when needed. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sometimes each trade, specialist, contractor, etc. is left
to decipher what is wanted from the contract documents and what they find when
it’s their turn on site. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Cost cutting jeopardizes
supervision, inspection and design leadership.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Most have, of necessity, developed practical ways of handling the
problems arising and produce good work despite the difficulties.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Occasionally the problems can seem
intractable. When this happens, independent experts can help.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We can
be contacted anytime at <span style="margin: 0px;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"><u><span style="color: blue;">fact@ArchiFACT.co.uk</span></u></a></span> or via
voicemail on 01484 515701.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/0442f01611748692/archive/Dortech/article.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: blue;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
BS 8104 <span style="margin: 0px;">Code of practice for assessing
exposure of walls to wind-driven</span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-71665018960161490462017-07-31T14:54:00.001+01:002017-07-31T14:54:04.869+01:00Knowledge is what you get from reading the contract. Experience is what you get from not reading it<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"></span>Many disputes arise because one or other of
the parties to a written agreement assumed, rather than read, its contents.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Such disputes can be ruinous where the
parties delay taking good advice.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;">In a recent arbitration, almost 12 years after
completion of a new-build, </span>low-rise block containing flats, shops and
communal facilities<span style="margin: 0px;">, a developer claimed against his builder for
water damage.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The developer particularised
the claim in terms of design defects with a few sweep-up allegations of poor
workmanship.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The remedial scheme
commissioned by the developer involved a redesign of that part of the building
alleged to be at fault.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The developer
sought compensation from the builder for the full cost of the remedial works.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;">The builder confidently rejected liability for
the cost of correcting design flaws as the design was produced by the
developer’s chosen architect whose design the builder had been obliged to accept.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;">While the builder correctly understood how the
design work had been undertaken, insufficient attention had been paid to the
peculiar split between design liability and design duty under the building
contract.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The builder had entered a
modified JCT design and build contract.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>This made the builder liable for negligent design while requiring the
builder to engage the developer’s architect, to implement the architect’s
design and not to alter the architect’s design.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Thus the builder had, under the express terms of the contract, liability
for a design over which he had no control.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;">The design, as evidenced by the drawings, was
completed more than 12 years before the action was brought.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Practical completion was less than 12 years
before the action was commenced.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
developer held that, as a builder’s duty continued until practical completion,
the action was not statute barred.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
builder disagreed, holding that if the action was statute barred against the
architect, insofar as the claim was for deficiencies in the architect’s design,
it must also be statute barred against the builder.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The developer also argued that there was an
implied continuing duty to review the design during inspections.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However the building contract did not include
a requirement for, and the architect was not engaged to carry out, routine
periodic architectural inspections during the works. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;">From the outset, reports by the project
insurer’s surveyor, the occupant’s surveyor and the developer’s surveyor
informed the legal proceedings and formed the basis for the remedial work,
which was completed earlier this year.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;">It was while the case was approaching a
hearing and after the remedial work was complete that I was invited to prepare
expert evidence and still later that the developer obtained an expert report.</span></span><span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">I reported that the </span><span style="margin: 0px;">design was flawed (but not as the developer asserted) and that the
developer’s remedial scheme was similarly flawed.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The developer</span><span style="margin: 0px;">’s expert advised revising the developer’s case and the builder, on
receipt of the developer’s expert’s report, stated that it raised issues other
than those pleaded and applied to have much of it struck out unless the claim
were revised.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Such a late fundamental
revision to the Statement of Case may have exposed the developer to a claim for
abortive costs and the developer eschewed this advice and resisted the
application.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
arbitrator was minded to allow the claimant’s expert evidence on the basis he
could properly ignore any part of it which did not go to the pleaded issues.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 8px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;">Both parties, now close to a hearing, were in
possession of expert evidence which put into question the validity of the claim
as pleaded but which showed there was, subject to the Statute of Limitations, a
viable claim.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The developer’s costs already
exceeded the sum claimed and the anticipated costs to go to a full hearing
would make the parties’ costs greatly exceed the sum in dispute.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The result was a compromise settlement within
a couple of weeks of the experts’ meeting.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Regrettably, due to the legal costs incurred, the settlement left both
parties out of pocket by more than the sum claimed.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A high price to pay for the experienced
gained.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>An earlier reading of the
contract documents and appointment of experts could have brought the dispute to
a cheaper, quicker and more effective resolution. </span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-77958444328678915212014-10-03T15:36:00.003+01:002014-10-03T15:36:25.184+01:00Ineffective legal remedy for Building Defects<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Applying the basic principles of English contract law, if building
work is defective due to a breach of contract, the remedy is the cost of correcting
the defects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another approach is to retain the defective work as built
and make an equitable deduction in payments to the builder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deductions might be based on whichever of the
following is applicable: the savings made by the builder’s not having to
correct the work, the loss of value in the finished building caused by retaining
the defects, the lower cost of building poorly, the foreseeable increased cost
of building maintenance, loss of longevity, etc.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The courts have in most cases based remedies on the cost of
correction or of diminution in value.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are exceptions where the courts have awarded nominal damages only.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has occurred where the defects caused loss
of amenity for the owner’s personal preferences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The case of Ruxlev Electronics and Construction
Ltd. v. Forsyth is often cited in this connection.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In a more recent case the courts awarded nominal damages for
a failure to build a garage to the specified dimensions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the logic by which the courts held that
nominal damages were an appropriate remedy can be distinguished from Ruxley,
the effect is the same in so far as it makes it uncertain that a contract requiring
building work to be done precisely as drawn and specified can be enforced
effectively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where does this leave
building professionals who advise on and prepare building contracts?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do we have to say to our clients, if you
enter a building contract based on agreed drawings and specifications, you may have
to put up with a deficient building or pay twice?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-50462528446908887632014-07-11T17:54:00.000+01:002014-07-11T17:54:16.525+01:00The incidence of different types of defects<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the most general sense, a satisfactory building is one which is where it is needed, fits appropriately into its surroundings, and provides adequate space and facilities, protected from adverse weather and other undesirable external conditions. Since this protection cannot readily be achieved with short-lived structures, buildings typically outlast many other modern products, and, if built so that they can be adapted to changing requirements and easily repaired, can give satisfactory service for a long time.<br />
Much can be learnt from the condition of the existing building stock about what mostly causes dissatisfaction after completion. <br />
Existing buildings in Britain number about 25 million. Most are dwellings, which in 2000 numbered about 23 million – well over 90 per cent of the total, but it is estimated that in terms of floor area, domestic and non-domestic buildings are roughly equal. <br />
At the beginning of the 20th century there was, in Britain, one dwelling for every 2.6 persons – slightly above the size of today’s dwindling average household. Population growth is now slow overall, and current demand for building arises largely from changes in household composition and inter-regional migration. The annual rate at which new dwellings were being completed in 2000 had fallen to well under 200,000, compared with more than double that figure in the mid 1960s.<br />
Consequently, for English houses as a whole, recent official figures indicate that more than one fifth are over 80 years old, and around half are 50 years old. There are no comparable statistics for non-residential buildings.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrjKYh_k444pR-uGlgxQrc8GMAPB9gEiNqEZ2cKjgzgJ5zL4UMSvSL0qUYOPSQ8CWoOhPPgEbBIdn03lzhFoMBszdeFYsFXQIebuWBafqzcVByLsnFjJUoNhquNNoc6uAWuSfZ6dszPUSB/s1600/trial-hole-web.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrjKYh_k444pR-uGlgxQrc8GMAPB9gEiNqEZ2cKjgzgJ5zL4UMSvSL0qUYOPSQ8CWoOhPPgEbBIdn03lzhFoMBszdeFYsFXQIebuWBafqzcVByLsnFjJUoNhquNNoc6uAWuSfZ6dszPUSB/s320/trial-hole-web.gif" height="157" ox="true" width="320" /></a></div>
In spite of their age, most existing buildings are still fit for continued use. Government statistics for dwellings officially designate as unfit less than 5 per cent of the total (i.e. 885,000 unfit dwellings). The most common reason for unfitness is disrepair (46%), followed by facilities for the preparation and cooking of food and dampness. Externally, faults occur most commonly in roof features and rainwater goods (34%), exterior wall finish (26%) and windows (25%). Internally faults are most common in ceilings (22%). This is an increase in the number of houses which are in disrepair when compared to the previous year’s survey.</div>
Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-20495748919277956522014-07-11T17:42:00.005+01:002014-07-11T17:42:47.943+01:00Sustainable Solutions for Old Windows<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Plastic windows are often put into older buildings, to
‘upgrade’ wooden windows, though the pvc-U they are manufactured from gives
them an expected lifespan of not much more than 30 years. They may provide
improvement in insulation via double-glazing and improved draft-proofing and so
are often viewed as the sustainable solution. This is potentially belied by the
reduction in light transmission, pvc-U window’s limited lifespan and the carbon
footprint created in their manufacture. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pvc-U
can now be recycled and one major manufacturer recycles up to 90% of old pvc-U
windows, including the glass, though even this process has a carbon footprint
in the energy used to re-create the window parts. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Listed historic buildings cannot be sympathetically
re-fitted with modern plastic windows and the appearance of many otherwise
handsome, though non-listed, older buildings has been spoilt by the addition of
carelessly chosen replacement windows. The making, rebuilding and repairing of sliding
sash windows has merit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Wooden window frames and sashes of whatever age can be easily
repaired if they have not been allowed to rot, though sliding sash windows in
particular are often seen by the inexperienced as more trouble than they are
worth to restore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However weights, cords,
pulleys and other traditional sliding sash accessories are readily available
and slender, pre-manufactured double glazing units can sometimes be used to
replace original Victorian glass, which was often especially thick in larger
windows. An expertly restored wooden sliding sash should be no harder to open
and close than a UPVC replacement.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Good timber is durable, if taken care of it will last for
centuries, though it does require periodic maintenance involving paint and
repair. Paint too has a carbon footprint, though modern non-volatile paints are
improving all the time. Pvc-u is low-maintenance but cannot be repaired as
easily, so its longevity is not as good and older plastic windows may suffer
permanent discolouration from exposure to sunlight. They can also become
stained, mildewed and bird droppings are reportedly particular problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Early steel windows, manufactured prior to the introduction
of rustproofing treatments at the end of the 1930’s also require additional
maintenance. Wartime painting was often neglected and rust allowed to set in,
often unseen beneath the putty in the glazing rebates. Cracked glass, provoked
by compression from the building up of corrosion products, is a sure sign.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Such windows are often worth
conserving and may be put back in good order. Careful removal of glass and
putty, followed by grinding off rust to bright metal and the application of a
good zinc based primer is essential, before re-glazing and painting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When extensive conservation work is required,
involving the repair or replacement of hardware, the dismantling of composite
assemblies, or the piecing in of replacement bars, it may be worth having the
windows taken out, removed to a workshop, stripped down and hot dip galvanized
before re-assembly. </span></div>
Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-62917529380868514042014-07-06T23:57:00.000+01:002014-07-06T23:57:38.743+01:00Le tour racing towards ArchiFACT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-6654361120635241602013-08-26T10:35:00.000+01:002013-08-26T10:35:21.066+01:00Alternative (Construction) Dispute Resolution (ADR) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin: 0cm 4.55pt 6pt 0cm;">
<span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">The term ‘alternative dispute resolution’ might originally have been applied to any method of resolving disputes other than litigation.<span> </span>Language changes and ADR is now commonly used to describe alternatives to any imposed, externally-regulated and binding system of resolving disputes.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 4.55pt 6pt 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span><span style="color: black;">It may mimic processes such as courtroom trials or arbitration hearings, or adopt wholly dissimilar procedures.<span> </span>There are formal protocols or codes of conduct available which can be followed if wished.<span> </span>(Guidance on this may be obtained from various bodies, of which the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution</span></span><span><span><span style="color: #3366cc;">, </span></span></span><span><span style="color: black;">CEDR</span><a href="http://www.archifact.co.uk/alternative-dispute-resolution-adr#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span><span><span><span style="font-family: URWGroteskTLig,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"> is one, and reference may usefully be made to the Commission of the European Communities’ green paper which defines alternative dispute resolution as ‘out-of-court dispute resolution processes conducted by a neutral third party, excluding arbitration proper’.</span><a href="http://www.archifact.co.uk/alternative-dispute-resolution-adr#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span><span><span><span style="font-family: URWGroteskTLig,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">[2]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;">).</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 4.55pt 6pt 0cm;">
<span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Traditionally, alternative dispute resolution is entered into voluntarily and governed by agreement between the parties in dispute.<span> </span>More recently, ADRs which are conducted by the court or entrusted by the court to a third party (ADRs in the context of judicial proceedings), are taking on a greater significance in Europe.<span> </span>For example, pursuant to Rules 26.4 and 44.5 of the Civil Procedure Rules for England and Wales, which came into force on 26 April 1999, the court may suspend a case to allow the litigants to have recourse to mediation and can order the litigants to make financial penalty payments if they refuse mediation.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 4.55pt 6pt 0cm;">
<span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">ADR can work well where all want a fair and equitable remedy – and badly where they do not.<span> </span>These voluntary and little-regulated processes can be disingenuously appropriated to obfuscate rather than resolve issues, so deferring the day of reckoning and delaying both technical and legal remedy.<span> </span>For this reason, non-binding dispute resolution procedures are useful only where those involved are capable of moderating self-interest with enlightened objectivity, in which the natural desire to avoid blame is balanced with the long-term benefit that comes from consensus rather than dispute.<span> </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Finding consensus between opposing interests, especially where the outcome is likely to be costly to one party, is difficult.<span> </span>It is useful for those involved to remember, when considering strict liability, that compromise over the cost of repair is often cheaper than litigation.<span> </span>If the parties can be persuaded that it is better to put their energies and money into resolution rather than dispute, alternative dispute resolution offers several tried and tested methods.<span> </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div>
<div style="display: block; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.archifact.co.uk/alternative-dispute-resolution-adr/Alt%20DR.jpg?attredirects=0" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://www.archifact.co.uk/_/rsrc/1357246951689/alternative-dispute-resolution-adr/Alt%20DR.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="_Toc103049108"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="_Toc102995503"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="_Toc94715212"><span><span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">Comparison of Alternative Construction Dispute Resolution Procedures</span></span></span></a></div>
<br /><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.archifact.co.uk/alternative-dispute-resolution-adr#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span><span><span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><a href="http://www.archifact.co.uk/www.cedr.co.uk"><span style="font-family: URWGroteskTLig,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black;">www.cedr.co.uk</span></span></a></div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.archifact.co.uk/alternative-dispute-resolution-adr#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span><span><span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">[2]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"> ‘<span>Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, 19.04.2002, COM(2002) 196 Final Green Paper on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Civil and Commercial Law’.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-9578887502133974722012-12-22T07:02:00.001+00:002012-12-22T07:02:07.028+00:00Limitation of Design Liability<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In a recent arbitration, almost 12 years after
completion of a new-build, </span>low-rise block containing flats, shops and
communal facilities<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">, a developer claimed against his builder for
water damage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The developer particularised
the claim in terms of design defects with a few sweep-up allegations of poor
workmanship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The remedial scheme
commissioned by the developer involved a redesign of that part of the building
alleged to be at fault.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The developer
sought compensation from the builder for the full cost of the remedial works.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The builder confidently rejected liability for
the cost of correcting design flaws as the design was produced by the
developer’s chosen architect whose design the builder had been obliged to accept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">While the builder correctly understood how the
design work had been undertaken, insufficient attention had been paid to the
peculiar split between design liability and design duty under the building
contract.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The builder had entered a
modified JCT design and build contract.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This made the builder liable for negligent design while requiring the
builder: to engage the developer’s architect, to implement the architect’s
design and not to alter the architect’s design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thus the builder had liability
for a design over which he had no control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The design, as evidenced by the drawings, was
completed more that 12 years before the action was brought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Practical completion was less than 12 years
before the action was commenced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
developer held that, as a builder’s duty continued until practical completion,
the action was not statute barred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
builder disagreed, holding that if the action was statute barred against the
architect, insofar as the claim was for deficiencies in the architect’s design,
it must also be statute barred against the builder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The developer also argued that there was an
implied continuing duty to review the design during inspections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However the building contract did not include
a requirement for, and the architect was not engaged to carry out, routine
periodic architectural inspections during the works. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">From the outset, reports by the project
insurer’s surveyor, the occupant’s surveyor and the developer’s surveyor
informed the legal proceedings and formed the basis for the remedial work,
which was completed earlier this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">It was while the case was approaching a
hearing and after the remedial work was complete that I was invited to prepare
expert evidence and still later that the developer obtained an expert report.</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">I reported that the </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">design was flawed (but not as the developer asserted) and that the
developer’s remedial scheme was similarly flawed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The developer</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">’s expert advised revising the developer’s case and the builder, on
receipt of the developer’s expert’s report, stated that it raised issues other
than those pleaded and applied to have much of it struck out unless the claim
were revised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such a late fundamental
revision to the Statement of Case may have exposed the developer to a claim for
abortive costs and the developer eschewed this advice and resisted the
application.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
arbitrator was minded to allow the claimant’s expert evidence on the basis he
could properly ignore any part of it which did not go to the pleaded issues.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Both parties, now close to a hearing, were in
possession of expert evidence which put into question the validity of the claim
as pleaded but which showed there was, subject to the Statute of Limitations, a
viable claim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The developer’s costs already
exceeded the sum claimed and the anticipated costs to go to a full hearing
would make the parties’ costs greatly exceed the sum in dispute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The result was a compromise settlement following the experts’ meeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Regrettably, due to the legal costs incurred, the settlement left both
parties out of pocket by more than the sum claimed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A high price to pay for the experienced
gained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An earlier reading of the
contract documents and appointment of experts could have brought the dispute to
a cheaper, quicker and more effective resolution. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-32811355538229201782012-12-19T09:01:00.002+00:002012-12-22T07:05:18.382+00:00Weatherproof Building?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
When architects no longer coordinate designs
and builders no longer accept responsibility for the building, how do you make
sure a building is weatherproof?</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">From the outset of my career as an architect, I found it regarded
as a normal and essential part of the architect’s role to coordinate the design
team and integrate architectural, engineering and specialist designs into a
working whole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More recently, as a
forensic architect, I find troubled projects where the project architect’s role
is diminished, leaving no member of the design team with overall responsibility
to coordinate the team and check the compatibility of each specialists’
contribution to the design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was
brought out recently in a design and build project which leaks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The general contractor blamed separately: the
architect, the brick laying sub-contractor and the curtain walling
sub-contractor for the failure.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The main contractor entered a contract under which it was
responsible for design, supply and build and then subcontracted all of the
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the finished building leaked,
the contractor took the stance that, as it had not in fact designed or built
anything, it must be blameless and fault must lie with its consultants and
subcontractors. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The architect sought to distance himself from the
problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As is typical under a design
and build contract, the architect was given a limited brief and even more
limited fee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accordingly the architect
stated; <i>‘We do not approve drawings, we only provide the design intent and a
visual concept, along with our understanding of how things go together’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Despite
the usual mishmash of project managers, coordinators, etc. no one had been
charged with the task of checking the compatibility of each consultants’ and
specialists’ designs with each other.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Without
establishing the causes of the leaks, the general contractor withheld money
from all whose work might be at fault.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left;">
How does rain penetrate a masonry walls?</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">By their nature, masonry walls are not waterproof.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The specification, design, detailing and
construction of walls should be tailored to local weather conditions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The likely severity of rain driving through
masonry can be assessed from the wall spell index</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2408036155010968385#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">- t</span>he more severe the exposure, the
more vital the correct detailing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Particularly important is the detailing of d.p.c.’s, joints and
junctions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">D.p.c.’s have limited ability to bond to mortar and, especially
if dry bedded, may form continuous capillaries to draw water in.<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span>Even without d.p.c.’s, water may enter
through the microscopic labyrinth of voids at mortar to masonry junctions and
through movement cracks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inappropriate
detailing, such as recessed mortar joints, can further worsen performance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Even well designed and built masonry walls may leak if
connected to poor roof details.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Parapets, poorly jointed copings and the lack of overhangs, drips and d.p.c.’s
commonly let water into walls but may go unnoticed until emerging it manifests
itself as damage. </span><br />
</div>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left;">
Where does the water
go?</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Once water has entered masonry walls, it may spread unseen
and reappear as leaks, typically at places where the masonry construction is
interrupted, such as: floors, doors, windows, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a common problem in cavity walls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good practice is to design on the basis that
water will penetrate the outer leaf of cavity walls and run down the wall cavities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To prevent damage, weep holes and cavity
trays are customarily installed to drain water harmlessly to the outside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Careful detailing is required to prevent water damage where
the masonry is interrupted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Water
running through masonry and wall cavities may not be noticed until it flows
onto lintels, window heads, etc. and causes visible damage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This often leads too readily to the
assumption that glazing systems are faulty or incorrectly installed as this is
where the water damage is seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With good design and supervision, glazing and
masonry can be combined without problems but when it does go wrong, informed
inspection and simple testing can reveal the causes of water damage, allowing
effective repair and the correct apportionment of blame.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<h3 style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left;">
Getting it Right</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Successful teamwork is engendered by good planning and
management with clearly allocated responsibilities and effective
communication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Empowering skilled
designers and tradesmen to work well as a team requires leadership,
organization, proper funding and timely payments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Designs should be well prepared in advance
and developed in work as required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
happens when tradesmen and professionals develop mutual respect and have the
resources to work together as and when needed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left;">
Sometimes each trade, specialist, contractor,
etc. is left to decipher what is wanted from the contract documents and what
they find when it’s their turn on site. Cost cutting jeopardizes supervision, inspection
and design leadership. Most have, of
necessity, developed practical ways of handling the problems arising and
produce good work despite the difficulties.
Occasionally the problems can seem intractable. When this happens,
independent experts can help.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2408036155010968385#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> BS 8104 <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Code of practice for assessing exposure of
walls to wind-driven</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-34945714324137435682012-12-11T08:35:00.000+00:002012-12-11T08:35:28.150+00:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyPLkeLh1XX7UasOx59jdjkEY7AAzb_XNKqkwv4j4tbXpdsx2eYsGoP7kmeWnReG9iyyEWFOZcbJH2bU12vm7apXuxXbF9wXLqtZRBtCDfVMUf_0_t9dAgxOZ_VbszoH1SfcBEujVJ7W4/s1600/xmass2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyPLkeLh1XX7UasOx59jdjkEY7AAzb_XNKqkwv4j4tbXpdsx2eYsGoP7kmeWnReG9iyyEWFOZcbJH2bU12vm7apXuxXbF9wXLqtZRBtCDfVMUf_0_t9dAgxOZ_VbszoH1SfcBEujVJ7W4/s320/xmass2012.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-72582655780681346682012-07-24T10:59:00.001+01:002012-07-24T10:59:56.677+01:00What is an architect?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A survey has found that the majority of British adults have little idea
what architects do:<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">15% do
not know that architects design buildings. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">22%
do not know that architects prepare detailed construction drawings for building
projects. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">48% do
not know that architects prepare specifications to be used for building
projects. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">69% do
not know architects negotiate planning permission with the local authorities. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">72% do
not know architects apply for planning permission. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">74% do
not know architects can deal with certification for building projects.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">79% do
not know architects can ensure that the construction site complies with Health
& Safety legislation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">86% are
not aware that architects select, negotiate with contractors and manage contracts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">91% do
not know architects run the financial accounts for building projects.</span></span></div>
</div>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-73405238996288164232012-06-07T13:35:00.004+01:002012-06-07T15:52:56.936+01:00Building Defects and the Law<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I often find rather naive views on UK law relating to building
defects published on the web.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have collated
some of these commonly held misconceptions, which I address below: <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1. Compliance with
Current Standards</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
“<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><em><span style="color: grey;">Every kind of construction
must be completed to current standards</span></em></span>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wrong!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>British and adopted European
Standards provide guidance and advice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Generally they attempt to summarise a consensus of good practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Usually they represent the views of
interested parties co-opted onto a committee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Due to the time taken to produce a Standard it is, on average, about 7 years out of date when published.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are not mandatory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A failure to comply with them is not
criminal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most importantly, following
building standards does not ensure sound building or confer immunity from law
suits.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2. Construction Law </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
“<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><em><span style="color: grey;">At the heart of construction
law are the building regulations</span></em></span>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wrong! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regulation of building is
to be found in a wide variety of statutes from the Town & County Planning
Act to the <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Housing Grants, Construction
and Regeneration Act</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
building regulations are, in their inception, health and safety provisions
which have recently been widened principally to encompass some environmental
concerns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their applicability and content are limited.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">3. Building Regulations
</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
“<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><em><span style="color: grey;">These regulations set out
precise levels of quality and competence that should be met within all
construction projects.</span></em></span>”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wrong!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Schedule 1 to the regulations provides
performance requirements but does not prescribe quality and competence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Approved documents issued under the regulations
give technical guidance in the form of deemed-to-satisfy provisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Compliance therewith, however advisable, is
not mandatory.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">4. Construction Defect
Law </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
“<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><em><span style="color: grey;">Construction defect law
exists to protect your building project from shoddy workmanship. Defect law
also gives your builders clear guidelines they must follow.</span></em></span>” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wrong!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is not a distinct law of construction defects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is limited regulation of workmanship standards under schedule 7 to
the building regulations and certain habitability standards required under statute
for residential housing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are
primarily intended to protect residential tenants from the results of demonstrably
poor work and will in limited circumstance only assist those who commission building
work.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">5. Regulation of Building
Professions and Workers</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
“<span class="MsoSubtleEmphasis"><em><span style="color: grey;">You can hire designers, builders
and tradesmen safe in the knowledge they are qualified to carry out the work
you are paying them for.</span></em></span>” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wrong!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Architect alone is a protected title.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In contrast, anyone can lawfully trade as surveyor, engineer, builder,
etc. or offer architectural services as long as they do describe themselves as an architect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is limited regulation of function
covering certain installations such as gas fittings, which is intended to
reduce the incidence of unsupervised unqualified persons working on certain defined
hazardous installations. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
Those who are uninitiated
into the complex mishmash of building qualifications defined variously as: registered,
chartered, time-served, competent persons, etc. are unlikely to distinguish say
between an architect, who by law must be qualified and registered, and an architectural
designer, who requires neither qualification nor registration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much building
in this country is performed by unregistered persons lacking appropriate formal
qualifications.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I am asked to investigate
supposedly negligent architectural design, more often than not the designer was
not an architect but the employer thought he was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a similar vein but at the other end of the
scale, the worst gas pipework I have inspected was not installed by, or under
the supervision of, a competent person but this did not have come to light until
my inspection report was served. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
When I started in practice, design was usually provided as a
separate service unconnected with the building contractor and the designers
were retained to supervise construction as independent inspectors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Builders worked in teams lead by experienced
tradesmen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On large schemes we had resident
engineers, architects and/or CoW’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Self-certification
by plumbers, etc. was unheard of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Independent
inspection was the norm.<o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span>Building regulations have moved progressively towards self-certification
in place of independent inspection. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Procurement
through design and build contracts tends to separate the employer from the
designers so removing from him the once traditional team of independent
consultants capable of expertly monitoring the work in progress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most standard forms of contract however deny
the employer the automatic right to work which is reasonably fit for its intended purpose, so taking
from him the greatest legal benefit a design and built contract would
otherwise bestow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<br />
Defects are often more easily concealed than corrected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The temptation to hide mistakes has always
been there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When at some future date concealed
defects manifest themselves, expert inspection is required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What constitutes competent building design,
sound materials, and good workmanship is not defined in statute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To claim compensation a combination of expert
opinion and legal assistance is required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To resist or pass on a claim more expert and legal opinions are often engaged.
<o:p></o:p>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;">If there</span> <span style="font-size: small;">were a statute providing overriding building
defects law, all this might be brought to an end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To draft such an all-embracing law to effectively
consolidate and extend existing regulation would take unprecedented ingenuity.</span></span></span></div>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-32519636446344066282012-05-24T16:56:00.001+01:002012-05-24T16:56:22.377+01:00Cladding which did the 2-way shuffle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1pt 4pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "URWGroteskTLig","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A cladding
system designed to accommodate differential movements between an aluminium
frame and metal-faced insulation-cored cladding panels experienced gradual
displacement of building components as the gaskets snaked their way along the
grooves between shuffling panels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "URWGroteskTLig","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The panels,
being small, elongated less on heating than the relatively long frame
sections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The connection between the two
was a combination of shelf brackets and clamps, with polymer gaskets inserted
tightly into grooves between the panels to complete the weather-sealing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Long continuous gaskets ran horizontally;
vertical gaskets were shorter<span class="msoDel"><del cite="mailto:Robert%20W.%20H.-Evans" datetime="2005-04-21T22:29"><span style="color: red;">,</span></del></span>
and discontinuous at each horizontal joint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "URWGroteskTLig","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">When the
system heated up and expanded, the panels and vertical gaskets tended to move
upwards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it cooled, the panels and
gaskets contracted but did not uniformly return to their original positions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The consequence was a gradual displacement of
parts of the system relative to one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This opened gaps at the butt joints between horizontal and vertical
gaskets and, in places, drove the vertical gaskets into the horizontal gaskets,
deforming them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those panels on the
elevations which received most sunshine moved progressively out of alignment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 5pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "URWGroteskTLig","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The design
was intended, by avoidance of rigid fixings, to allow reciprocal movements
without distress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this lack of
rigidity allowed each reciprocal movement to cause slight relative
displacements in the panels and gaskets, the accumulation of which over time
reduced weather resistance and marred appearance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-17893852804349406432012-05-20T12:12:00.001+01:002012-05-20T12:12:16.749+01:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Sir Walter Scott, <strong><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Guy Mannering</span></strong>, ch. 37,
1815:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<em><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A lawyer without history or literature
is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these,
he may venture to call himself an architect.</span></em><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #4b4b4b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</div>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-5334129162661269072012-03-15T09:14:00.003+00:002012-03-15T09:34:52.339+00:00Lead Roof Corrosion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A recent investigation revealed an oversight in roof design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The construction under investigation had wide lead gutters behind masonry parapets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These gutter formed part of the roof and are in effect cold decks over thick thermal insulation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other parts of the roof were provided with interstitial ventilation following current guidance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gutters were not.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwiSMgRsS0sg0Z3gtgSnleZRgmk3w2Cdt8VRGENLn2EA0xKgG9kX1jLDHD7m1XA5xs2rzvm16N8RGhxdOLTaoujeqfxnu8AivdFGsfN80FCNEmbpQyx5QiDafSKxPHHwsyfYTITm-JZ_DS/s1600/lead+underside+corrossion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwiSMgRsS0sg0Z3gtgSnleZRgmk3w2Cdt8VRGENLn2EA0xKgG9kX1jLDHD7m1XA5xs2rzvm16N8RGhxdOLTaoujeqfxnu8AivdFGsfN80FCNEmbpQyx5QiDafSKxPHHwsyfYTITm-JZ_DS/s320/lead+underside+corrossion.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The natural durability of lead under normal conditions is due to the formation of protective insoluble salts which are formed on the surface. Moisture and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere combine to form weak carbonic acid and this reacts with bright metallic lead during periods of rain or overnight dews to form the normal grey patina typical of lead roofs. This thin continuous surface layer protects the metallic lead from further attack. On the underside of lead sheets these protective layers may not form.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a name='more'></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Most lead roofs are unaffected by underside corrosion or contain only a small amount of corrosion products, possibly as a result of damp conditions when the roof was laid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, some roofs have been subject to severe underside corrosion as a result of on-going damp conditions, the presence of carboxylic (acetic and formic) acids given out by acid-containing substrates. The major corrosion product is the white hydrocerussite or white lead (2PbCO<sub><span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span></sub>.Pb(OH)<sub><span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span></sub>). However, in the presence of carboxylic acids, the red and yellow lead oxides of Massicot and Litharge may be formed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Underside corrosion of lead requires the presence of moisture and an absence of carbon dioxide. The accumulation of condensate which is depleted of carbon dioxide creates a risk of underside corrosion.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When a thin film of moisture condenses on the underside surface, this becomes rich in oxygen and carbon dioxide. This forms the protective grey hydrocerussite patina, similar to that formed on the topside of lead by normal weathering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When thick films or droplets of condensation form on the underside surface, these are unable to absorb sufficient carbon dioxide to form a stable passive coating. Instead, the intermediate lead hydroxide forms on the metal surface and this migrates to the outside of the droplet where it eventually reacts with carbon dioxide to form the hydrocerussite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because this has formed on the outside of the droplet (as compared to the metal surface) it is loose and non-protective and this allows further corrosion to occur during the next condensation period.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-63092125981413589512012-01-04T11:56:00.001+00:002012-01-04T11:57:58.665+00:00Architectural Acoustics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span dir="ltr" id="sites-page-title"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div dir="ltr">
<div>
<span style="color: black;">The third most common complaint of defects in buildings is noise.</span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span lang="EN">Architectural acoustics</span></b><span lang="EN"> is the study of applying sound control within and between buildings. An early well recorded application of architectural acoustics is in opera house design. More recently it has been applied to both new and renovated concert halls. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This has much to do with the quality of sound rather than noise suppression which is critical to the design of multi-occupancy building and city centre living. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Dwellings and business premises may both generate significant noise and suffer from noise intrusion. The design of workplaces has often to contend with the potential effects of noise on health. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Architectural acoustics includes room acoustics, the design of recording and broadcast studios, home theaters, and listening rooms for media playback.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"> </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><a name='more'></a></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b><span lang="EN"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Noise propagation</span></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span lang="EN">The main noise paths into and out of buildings are often found to be where the building envelope is interrupted and through light weight elements, typically roofs, eaves, walls, windows, door</span>s<span lang="EN"> and service penetrations. Sufficient control ensures space functionality and is often required based on building use and local municipal codes. An example would be providing a suitable design for a home which is to be constructed close to a high volume roadway, or under the flight path of a major airport, or of the airport itself.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Controlling noise transmission between rooms to ensure privacy and comfort is often poorly served by modern fast track construction. Sound transmission may conveniently be categorized as direct and flanking. The typical direct sound paths are through light weight room partitions, floors and ceilings. Poorly fitting, open or badly sealed doors, windows, service ducts and even small holes can greatly impair sound attenuation between rooms.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b><span lang="EN"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Room acoustics</span></span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is the science of influencing the quality of sound in a room by controlling room dimensions and the characteristics of exposed surfaces. The sound absorbing and reflecting properties of exposed surfaces can modify reverberation time and tonal quality.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Within closed spaces sound reflections can create standing waves that produce natural resonances that can be heard as a pleasant sensation or an annoying one.<sup> </sup> Angling the room boundaries so that they diverge from one another at an angle of 7<sup>o</sup> or more tends to control the strong resonant effect that standing waves often cause.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Reflective surfaces can be angled and coordinated to provide good coverage of sound for a listener in a concert hall or music recital space. Interior building surfaces can be constructed of many different materials and finishes. One way to adjust room acoustics at need is by altering the way the room is furnished and the reflective properties of the bounding surfaces. Another method, often used in open plan offices is the deliberate introduction of pink noise. This can often improve speech privacy at low cost but is best used as a part of an overall strategy</span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
</div>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-42056303793617943932011-12-14T13:29:00.001+00:002011-12-14T13:37:36.111+00:00Season's greetings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2C_iF8LKTN_yLXV0gb8TbT_YiUq2XrU6-rXevKx8iKQIq3xj4bCRHQdZs8LidOa8FpDe0VEHkzyyYZOv0a8JR4QSBolcW0BQZ8yL8ojONsXjF5Lvn255Ve0k888GnDDLH65a8DJizcR0R/s1600/New+folder_AutoCollage_7_Images+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2C_iF8LKTN_yLXV0gb8TbT_YiUq2XrU6-rXevKx8iKQIq3xj4bCRHQdZs8LidOa8FpDe0VEHkzyyYZOv0a8JR4QSBolcW0BQZ8yL8ojONsXjF5Lvn255Ve0k888GnDDLH65a8DJizcR0R/s400/New+folder_AutoCollage_7_Images+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With thanks to all who have worked with us in 2011 we wish you a properous and happy new year</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-675751389930498132011-11-23T16:53:00.001+00:002011-11-24T19:23:49.222+00:00THE DUTY TO REVIEW DESIGN<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is case law
which suggests an architect or engineer has an ongoing duty to review their design.</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="margin: 0cm 4.55pt 6pt 35pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The architect is under a
continuing duty to check that his design will work in practice and to correct
any errors which may emerge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It savours
of the ridiculous for the architect to be able to say: ‘True, my design was
faulty but of course, I saw to it that the contractors followed it faithfully’
and to be enabled on that ground to succeed in the action.</span></span></i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2408036155010968385#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "URWGroteskTLig","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">There is authority that duration of the duty
continues beyond practical completion until the works are truly complete</span>.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2408036155010968385#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[2]</span></span></span></span></span></a></span>
<br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><a name='more'></a></span></span></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
extent of this duty is not set out in a statute but comes from precedent drawn
from a number of decided cases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is
some debate as to whether this duty arises as a matter of course or due to a
specific event during a project.</span></span>
<br />
<div style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: 1pt solid windowtext; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 4.55pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1pt 4pt;">
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Archie, having designed a wall in 1990 which
would not adequately resist driving rain, goes onto site in 1992 when the
builder starts to construct the wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The building is completed in 1995 and is subject to driving rain </span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">which causes leaks in 1997. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">When he goes on site, Archie sees his design
being built and has an opportunity to recognise and correct his error but does
not do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This failure to correct his
earlier error is a negligent action, in respect of which a claim for damages
could be brought. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If it is seen as a renewal of his earlier
error, it may be argued that the limitation period for a claim for the design
error runs from 1992 not 1990.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it is
a new and distinct error, there may be some difficulty in sustaining a
worthwhile claim against him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arguably,
the new error cannot cause a loss, the loss already having been caused by the
earlier negligence in design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The amount
claimable for damages is based on the loss caused.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Logically, the second error, however
reprehensible, is not the cause of the loss for the negligent design and causes
no additional loss because, at the time the second error was made, all of the
loss was already an inevitable consequence of the earlier error and, if that
earlier error had not been made, the second error could not exist.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Correcting a design error, apart from the
additional work done by the designer, may not result in any loss if done early
enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A correctly designed wall may
not cost more to build than an incorrectly designed one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, finding and correcting the error
before the wall is built to an incorrect design may occasion no loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once construction is commenced, the cost of
correcting the error is likely to increase as work progresses and to reach a maximum
once the building is finished and occupied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If it is accepted that there is a continuing duty to review, delay in
finding the error can be said to increase the loss.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2408036155010968385#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>L.J. Sachs in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Brickfield Properties</i> v <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Newton</i></st1:city></st1:place> (1971) 1
WLR 862, p. 873.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2408036155010968385#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Judge Bowsher Q.C. in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">University Court of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Glasgow</st1:city></st1:place></i>
v <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Whitfield</i> (1988) 42 Build LR 66.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-70346701428834222432011-11-23T16:39:00.001+00:002011-11-23T16:42:18.918+00:00PERSONAL AND COMPANY LIABILITY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Individuals who
are members of companies may, through their actions, create liabilities – both
on the companies and on themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
is true also of individuals who work for partnerships.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="margin: 0cm 4.55pt 6pt 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Insurance
policies will generally be taken out by companies or partnerships rather than
by individuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These policies, which
protect the companies or partnerships, will not necessarily automatically
provide the same protection to the members of the companies and partnerships –
whether they be principals, employees or owners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="margin: 0cm 4.55pt 6pt 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For this reason,
some professional organisations advise and/or require their members to be
expressly covered by the insurances taken out by the organisations for whom
they work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even where this is in place,
the insurance cover is unlikely to extend to protect individuals when acting in
their own capacity rather than on behalf of their company, etc. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Therefore, professionals who give advice not in
pursuit of a commission given to the organisation with which they work may
expose themselves to liabilities for which the insurance taken out by the
company or partnership offers no protection.</span></span>
</div>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-89711782003421920272011-11-22T12:36:00.001+00:002011-11-22T12:39:52.189+00:00Insurance Cover for Construction?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It is sometimes
not enough merely to see that insurance is in place, it is important also to
know what is covered by that insurance.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: 1pt solid windowtext; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 4.55pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1pt 4pt;">
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">An example of inappropriate insurance came to
light when a major building-products manufacturer undertook the role of main
contractor in remedial works to a refurbishment project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their building system and materials had been
used for the refurbishment work, but performance when finished was flawed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Believing the faults lay in the site work,
not in their products, they undertook to confirm this to the building owner by
implementing repairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">They ably set about correcting the
installation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This done, the work
failed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had created an excellent
test bed for a relatively new product.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By minimising workmanship error and having full control over design and
materials, they had ensured there was a full-sized example of their building
system, which was correctly set up and exposed as intended to the
elements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a much more robust
way of evaluating the system than the laboratory tests and computer modelling
upon which all had hitherto relied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
failures were limited and allowed specific flaws in the computer modelling to
be identified, with benefits for the future development and use of the system.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Although the failures following the remedial
works were much less severe than had originally occurred, they were
unacceptable to the building owner who brought a claim against the
manufacturers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They turned to their
insurers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their insurance covered
product quality and the design of the system </span>–<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> normally supplied under a contract of sale, not a contract for the
supply of services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The insurer stated
that, by taking on the role of main contractor, the manufacturer had extended
their liability beyond the cover the insurers provided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">To carry out the remedial work, they had
engaged a quantity-surveying firm to act both as quantity surveyor and project
manager.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It turned out that, although
this firm held professional indemnity insurance, this covered them for quantity
surveying but not for project management.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was through their project-management services that the quantity
surveyors had contracted to control the quality of the works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In dereliction of this duty they had failed
to recognise bad workmanship, which negligence they compounded with commendable
regularly by certifying monthly payments for faulty work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The quantity surveyor’s professional
indemnity insurers firmly stood aside when faced with a claim for negligence in
project management.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Following out-of-court settlements and
substantial rejection of the claims against their product insurer and against
the project manager’s professional indemnity insurer, the manufacturers turned
to their parent company, on whose research and development work they relied and
were finally successful in recovering a substantial part of their losses. This
was largely due to being able to claim that the root of the failures which
occurred arose from demonstrable negligence in research and development, for
which risk the parent company was insured.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-41728932111233334372011-11-13T13:07:00.001+00:002011-11-13T13:09:00.827+00:00Building over the boundary<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A development in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Worcester</st1:city></st1:place> was hemmed in by surrounding
properties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For maximum return, the
development was taken to the very edge of the legal boundaries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To prevent dispute, the foundations were
designed not to cross the boundaries into the land of those neighbouring owners
who were opposed to the development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This created difficulties in construction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The site team did not appreciate the
significance of this aspect of the design, particularly as the legal boundaries
were to them nought but invisible concepts passing though muddy excavations. </span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In constructing a basement, the builder ran
the bottom layer of concrete wide of the site boundaries.</span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a name='more'></a></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: 1pt solid windowtext; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 4.55pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1pt 4pt;">
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The tanking was to be in asphalt and a
non-traditional detail had been designed to avoid a toe of concrete and asphalt
projecting over the boundary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
asphalter, seeing the projecting concrete, reverted to familiar tradition and
ignored the drawings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBlockText" style="background: rgb(204, 255, 204); border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The resident clerk of works, more familiar
with traditional building than with property law, was unaware of the potential
consequences and took no action.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The fault was discovered by the architect
during a routine visit after it was well advanced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Technically there was nothing wrong with the
work other than its projection into land owned by others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">However well built, the cellar could not be
allowed to continue its trespass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over
two weeks were lost in cutting out the erroneous work and making good just
because those on site did not properly appreciate the wider legal implications
of departing from the drawn detail.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2408036155010968385.post-13628222133412705792011-11-08T10:15:00.000+00:002011-11-08T10:15:22.286+00:00Exclusion Clauses<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The doctrine of
privity poses particular problems for exclusion clauses in contracts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Exclusion or
limitation clauses may exclude or limit the liability, for a specific breach or
negligent act, of a contracting party to those it contracts with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It is sometimes
desirable to extend an exclusion clause to parties outside the contract. For
example, a company may wish to protect contractors that it employs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the whole, however, privity of contract
acts to restrict the effect of such clauses on third parties. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A manufacturer of cladding and roofing
materials sells its products through builders’ merchants, under a contract of
sale which excludes liability for consequential loss and limits liability in
any event to the amount paid to them for their materials. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Part of their cladding cracked after it had
been installed on a building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
building owner, the employer under the building contract, sued the contractor
who, in turn, sued the cladding subcontractor, and so on down the contractual
chain until the action reached the manufacturer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">At the same time, the owner brought an action
against the engineer who designed the building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a name='more'></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The manufacturer publishes literature in respect
of their products which, in the ordinary course of events, are referred to by
designers when deciding what products to specify.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was the case here and both the engineer
and the owner sought to bring the manufacturers into the action, on the basis
that they had negligently misstated the cladding’s capabilities and that they
had relied on these misstatements when deciding what products to use. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The result was a multi-party action in which
there were two lines of attack on the manufacturer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One line, the strict contractual route, had
to contend with the exclusion clause (no liability for consequential damage)
and the limitation clause (liability not to exceed the purchase price of the
materials).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">These restrictions potentially greatly
diminished the value of a strict contractual claim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The merchant charged the subcontractor more
than he paid for the cladding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In turn,
the subcontractor charged the main contractor more than the merchant’s price
and, in turn, the main-contractor similarly inflated the price to the
employer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The manufacturer’s trading
terms, if effective, would exclude liability for these inflated costs as well
as the cost of the site work.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The claimed reliance on negligent
misstatement did not have to overcome such restrictive terms, as these clauses
applied to the contract of sale between the manufacturer and merchant
only.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, the terms of sale between
manufacturer and merchant were unknown to the other parties until they had been
pleaded in the manufacturer’s defence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The manufacturer offered a warranty in
similarly restricted terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In bringing
the actions for negligent misstatements reliance was not placed on the
warranty, making the restrictive terms unavailable to the manufacturer in his
defending this action.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The outcome of these legal arguments is not
known, as the technical issues were heard first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The effectiveness of the restrictive terms
excluding and limiting liability did not have to be tested, as the case against
the manufacturer was dismissed once the arguments on the cause of cracking and
misuse of the products had been heard by the trial judge.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>Robert Evanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02183031879757253496noreply@blogger.com0