Foreword

Design and build procurement routes, in which the employer engages a single contractor to prepare and/or complete the design and construct the works, now account for a significant percentage of all construction contracts in the UK, and increasingly are the preferred method of procurement. The desire of many clients to secure single-point responsibility is compelling, but the extent to which this is achieved using design and build needs to be understood. This Guide will assist with this point and with many other practical and legal issues surrounding the JCT Design and Build Contract (DB16). This contract adopts the familiar logical layout and clear style, while reflecting current working practices, new legislation and new case law. This Guide covers these changes and all the subsequent revisions to the 2011 edition.

Written in straightforward language, Sarah Lupton’s Guide to DB16 takes its lead from her excellent Guide to DB11, to provide a clear, comprehensive and thoroughly up-to-date analysis of the form of contract. The contract’s provisions, procedures and supplementary conditions are spelled out authoritatively and are organised by theme, and the Guide points out the important new changes in the contract and illustrates the practical effects of the wording with concise and helpful case summaries. The hard-pressed practitioner familiar with the form will be pleased to see the useful indexes, and will doubtless come to depend on being able to dip quickly into the Guide for specific help during the course of a project.

As well as being an indispensable guide for practitioners, I would also thoroughly recommend it to both architecture and other construction students on the threshold of undertaking their professional examinations. Sarah Lupton’s rare combination of being a legally trained architect who also runs the MA in Professional Studies at Cardiff University makes this Guide the ideal student companion.

Neil Gower, Solicitor
Chief Executive, The Joint Contracts Tribunal
December 2016