The Place of Standard Forms of Building Contract in the 21st Century

Professor Peter Hibberd

November 2004

A paper based on a talk given at a Society of Construction Law conference in Wakefield on 11th March 2004

The author, Secretary-General of the Joint Contracts Tribunal, discusses the history and background of the JCT forms. He then looks at the purposes of standard forms generally, the way they have developed and criticisms of them. He also considers ten current issues: the adversial nature of contracts; use of risk allocation mechanisms; design involvement; use of key performance indicators; incentivisation; use of bespoke amendments; extent of programme control; control of variations and their pricing mechanism; retention; and partnering.

Background to standard forms of building contract - Purpose of a standard form - Development of a standard form of building contract - Criticisms of standard forms of contract - Meeting market needs - Current issues - Nature and delivery of contracts in the future.

Professor Peter Hibberd MSc(UMIST), FICS, MCIArb is Secretary-General of the Joint Contracts Tribunal Ltd; he is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Salford, having previously been Professor of Construction Procurement at the University of Glamorgan.

Text 16 pages

PDF file size: 91k