by Joe Colgan

In his second article, Joe Colgan, senior project manager, EC Harris, follows up on the problems associated with FIDIC’s nomination clause.

FIDIC ‘99 provides for a right of objection under Clause 5.2 that is conditional upon the contractor’s receipt of an indemnity from the proposed nominated entity. [Read more...]

By Samer H Skaik

Introduction

Strategic thinking has engaged the brains of business leaders for centuries. Many books and researches have been developed to cover the strategy subject because of its importance. Organizations always seek to adopt dynamic and effective strategic management to secure proper growth and remain competitive.

Strategic management is necessary to any organisation particularly those working in construction where there is a rapidly changing environment with adverse competition and surprises which may act as serious threats to organisation stability.

[Read more...]

by Mukund Karnick

In his second article, Mukund Karnick, senior contracts advisor at Nakheel’s Palm Jebel Ali, broaches the topic of Nominated Subcontractors (NSC). The benefits of introducing Nominated Subcontractors (NSC) in tenders By introducing NSC in tenders, the client: [Read more...]

By Robert Palles-Clark

In my previous article for the Legal Review, I argued that, in the case of a claim for delay on a construction project, the courts are directing us towards the need for some sort of critical path analysis to be provided as part of the evidential material required to prove the claim. There are plenty of planners out there that will tell you that the use of critical path analysis for this purpose is essential. It is certainly the norm ultimately for both parties to an arbitration or litigation concerning delays to appoint planning experts and for those experts to present their critical path model and analysis of the delays contended for. In this article I thought that it would be interesting to examine some of the many problems associated with the requirement and use of such techniques. [Read more...]

Quality problems may not be raised to the level of an issue, but they are problems nonetheless and can be resolved using some of the same problem-solving techniques described in Managing Issues. Guessing the cause of the problem rarely works. A structured approach works much better. You want to not only resolve this particular problem, but you also want to understand the problem well enough so that you can identify the root cause and ensure that this particular quality problem does not occur again. [Read more...]

by Chris Larkin

The construction market in the UAE poses many challenges: the number and scale of projects have generated a tremendous demand for construction services; the weakening of the US dollar against other major currencies coupled with other inflationary factors has further increased the cost of construction; and the potential impact on the global economy caused by difficulties in the US sub-prime market has created uncertainty amongst investors. These issues give rise to particular risks for developers and contractors alike. [Read more...]

by Conrad Egbert

A lack of government indices and statistics for the UAE construction sector is making it difficult to incorporate ‘escalation clauses’ into contracts, according to industry experts. [Read more...]

by Steven Hunt

sense that, for many contractors, ‘taking over’ is seen as the moment when the proverbial foot can come off the gas – the time when the contractor is finally relieved of the burden of delivering the project. For a contractor the process of taking over is an important one as the care of the works will pass to the employer and the employer’s entitlement to recover liquidated damages will cease. It is not, however, the end of the story for the contractor as he will remain liable for defective workmanship and materials beyond handover. [Read more...]

In a large project, all communication takes place in context of an overall Communication Management Plan. Status meetings and status reporting are required, just as for a medium-size project. In addition, there are many other types of proactive communication that need to be considered. This creative and proactive communication is laid out in a Communication Management Plan, which is created as follows. [Read more...]