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INTRODUCTION
The Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT), which represents a cross-section of the construction industry including employers and construction clients, contractors, consultants and specialists, was established in 1931 and has for many decades produced (and still produces) standard forms of contracts, guidance notes and other standard documentation for use in the construction industry.
The current membership of the JCT includes the British Property Federation, the Construction Confederation, the Local Government Association, the National Specialist Contractors Council, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Association of Consulting Engineers, the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Scottish Building Contract Committee. Members are party to one of five colleges that represent the interests of employers, clients and local authorities; consultants; contractors, specialists and subcontractors and the Scottish building industry.
The JCT Council, its working parties, subcommittees and the colleges mentioned above consider and agree the contract documentation to be published. As from May 2005 Sweet & Maxwell took over responsibility for publishing the JCT's contracts from the Royal Institute of British Architect's publishing house and is responsible for publishing all the contracts and associated documentation produced by the JCT. This switch to Sweet & Maxwell also heralded an overhaul of the JCT suite of contracts which this paper will look at in more detail.
WHAT DOES JCT PUBLISH?
JCT provides a range of building contracts, subcontracts, warranties (or duty of care deeds) and associated guidance notes. The building contracts include contracts for use on traditionally procured projects (either lump sum, measurement or cost plus), contracts where contractor's design is involved, term contracts and contracts where the contractor is undertaking more a management role (either construction management or management contracting). This paper will concentrate on the main JCT building contracts.
CHANGES TO THE 'LOOK' OF JCT CONTRACTS
Changes to the 'look' are the easiest to spot:
Each contract has a yellow cover with a coloured band in the middle of it to signify different families or specialisations -- for example, the design and build contract has a deep pink band, the intermediate building contract has a brown band, the minor works contract has an orange band and the framework agreement has a turquoise band. This should make it easier to find contracts in the same 'family' and reinforces...