Revision 2 of JCT standard forms of contract

A Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) product story

Edited by the Buildingtalk editorial team May 20, 2009

Revision 2 of the Joint Contracts Tribunal standard forms of contract will be published this month (May).

Sweet and Maxwell Thomson Reuters will commence by publishing the revised Standard Building Contract, the Design and Build Contract and the Minor Works Contract families.

The Intermediate Building Contract and other contract families will follow during June and July.

The principal revisions are the incorporation of the new sustainability provisions, modifications to the payment provisions, and other changes building on the Office for Government Commerce's (OGC) Achieving Excellence criteria.

The new sustainability clauses and accompanying guidance do not seek to impose rigid criteria upon parties, or strict targets.

Instead they introduce a framework under which the contract can encompass sustainability.

The new provisions have been developed following extensive industry consultation last year and the publication of its sustainability guidance Building a sustainable future together earlier this year.

The new provisions specify a range of contractual provisions that could be selected, including value engineering to encourage design efficiency; requirements to reduce, reuse and recycle; limiting waste; saving energy and water; reducing emissions, and using sustainable materials and products.

Revision 2 provided the opportunity to modify certain aspects of the payment provisions, whilst awaiting the outcome of the proposed new payment legislation.

This will be handled under Revision 3.

Other changes build upon OGC's Achieving Excellence criteria, removing the remaining barriers for the adoption of JCT contracts across the central government departments.