Construction Management Guide

Two-stage tendering is slowly being recognised in the Middle East as a potential way to achieve an employer’s objectives and reduce risk, writes EMILY LAWRENCE*. [Read more...]

 by Nick Carnell
Both the 1987 and 1999 editions of the FIDIC standard form contain a number of requirements that particular things shall be done within a set period of time. [Read more...]

by Antonios Dimitracopoulos
As a result of the termination or indefinite suspension of projects en masse, over the last two to three months, irate contractors were seeking urgent advice from their lawyers on their legal position, as well as on the process and cost of dispute resolution options. [Read more...]

A common mistake is to assign two or more people to an activity without designating who has the primary responsibility to ensure the work is done correctly and completely. A lack of primary responsibility may make some people defer to each other and end up delaying work that needs to start quickly. You can also run into a problem when multiple people miss portions of work that each person thinks the other one is working on. If an activity has only one person assigned, it is pretty clear who is responsible. But if two or more people are assigned to the same activity, make sure one of them is designated as primarily responsible for coordinating the work to ensure it is done completely, correctly and within quality, effort and duration estimates. [Read more...]

The Buildsafe UAE safety alerts this week recommended that all sites should undertake a review on all lifting operations to ensure work methods statements are relevant to the operation. [Read more...]

R.F. Feldman

The resistance to deformation that makes concrete a useful material means also that volume changes of the concrete itself can have important implications in use. Any potential growth or shrinkage may lead to complications, externally because of structural interaction with other components or internally when the concrete is reinforced. There may even be distress if either the cement paste or the aggregate changes dimension, with tensile stresses set up in one component and compressive stresses in the other. Cracks may be produced when the relatively low tensile strength of the concrete or its constituent materials is exceeded. [Read more...]

by Peter Hedlund

With squeezed margins and tighter control required on projects, technologies that can reduce costs, enhance productivity and manage risk are more valuable than ever. Collaboration technology – web-based systems for managing documents and correspondence on construction projects – are an example of this and there is a strong demand for these solutions in the current climate. [Read more...]

Risk is usually associated with potential events that have a negative impact on the project. However, there is also a concept of opportunity risk or positive risk. In these instances, the project manager or project team may introduce risk to try to gain much more value later. For instance, a team may decide to utilize a new technology on its project because they think it will result in dramatic effort and cost savings. [Read more...]

by Dennis Brand
For termination of a contract due to default by the Contractor, FIDIC 4th Edition provides remedies for the employer in Clause 63.1 which, save for a fairly common provision relating to the contractor’s bankruptcy, liquidation or dissolution, requires a certificate to be issued by the engineer stating (a) that the contractor has repudiated the contract, or (b) without reasonable excuse has failed to commence or proceed with the works following a 28-day notice, or (c) has failed to comply with a specific notice or instruction concerning rejection and/or removal of improper work, materials or plant, or (d) despite previous warning from the engineer, is neglecting to comply with any of the contractor’s obligations, or (e) has contravened the provisions of the contract related to sub-contracting, in which case, upon the employer giving 14 days’ notice to the contractor, may enter upon the site and terminate the contract. [Read more...]