NEC4 Contract

There is no such thing as concurrency under an NEC Contract!

That is a bold statement isn’t it, but broadly speaking I believe this to be true. It is other forms of contract that use this term, but then not that uncommon for a Client to introduce concurrency as a Z clause to try to incorporate into an NEC contract as a sweeping statement. What does […]

NEC4 Negative float

Negative Float on an NEC Contract Programme

There are many misconceptions about this topic which this blog post will try to clear up. There are some Clients that actually state within their Scope/Works Information that they will “not accept a programme with negative float”, which is actually ridiculous and shows a lack of understanding as to what it shows and what it […]

NEC contract tender programme

Benefits of a programme at tender stage

There are so many good reasons for a Contractor to submit a thoroughly detailed programme at tender stage. Often it will be a tender requirement to do so, and a fair proportion of the tender score may depend upon the quality of the programme submitted. However, even if one is not specifically requested if I […]

Forecast Defined Cost

Clause 63.1 and “actual” versus “forecast” Defined Cost when assessing a compensation event

It appears to be a quite common misconception that if compensation event works have been carried out and the quotation not been agreed, that the quote should be assessed based upon actual cost. This is not correct and could encourage some quite negative behaviours from either party if they thought it may benefit them to […]

NEC4 ECC Top ten clauses

Top ten most important/favourite NEC4 clauses

Someone asked me recently on a training session what is my favourite clause within the contract. I said it was difficult to pick out a single one, but it did get me thinking as to what I considered the most important clauses and why. I have come up with what I believe to be the […]

NEC4 Negative float

Which programme should be used as the “baseline”?

I regularly get asked this question in training sessions. There are two occasions when it will be necessary to compare a programme against a previous one i.e. a previous baseline. The first is when a revised programme is issued for acceptance i.e. what should the new programme be compared to, and the second is for a compensation […]

Covid-19 Compensation Event clause

Before we knew anything about Covid-19, the effects would be claimable by the Contractor as a compensation event under clause 60.1(19) as a “force majeure” type event. However, we all know about Coronavirus now as a potential future risk, so it is less likely to fall under that category as being a compensation event. That […]

NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract

Changes to NEC4 recommended by NEC People forum

From our NEC People conference output in 2015 we gave a 23 point list of changes that as a group we wanted to see in NEC4. Of that list there were three items I was not precious about (but it was not just my list!) so for me there was a core of 20 items. […]

A warm welcome to NEC4, but there is an elephant in the room

Yesterday I along with a few hundred others attended the official launch of NEC4. This is a very welcome development as like anything NEC needs to keep pace with new ideas or better ways of doing things. NEC4 brings some great new changes, pondering over others, but most importantly from my perspective frustrated that one […]

NEC3 & NEC4 Guidance Notes & Free NEC Downloads, NEC Training and NEC Events by GMH Planning Ltd

NEC4 is nearly here!

Here is a summary of some of the key changes that are coming within the NEC4 contracts when they are launched at the end of June this year. Some very welcome inclusions that should enhance even further the benefits and practicalities that these contracts are trying to achieve for the industry. Some of the headline […]