2 South West Building & Construction

SOUTH WEST

February 2010

BUILDING &

CONSTRUCTION

Tavistock Newspapers Ltd, 14 Brook Street, Tavistock, Devon, PL19 0HE. Tel: 01822 613666 Fax: 01822 618222

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

■ Sustainable construction - Page 4 ■ Denis May & Sons Ltd - Page 8 ■ Focus on Plymouth area - Page 14 ■ Spotlight on Exeter - Page 18 ■ T H Teague & Sons Ltd - Page 22 ■ The Big Freeze - Page 26 ■ Environment Topics - Page 29 ■ Stenlakes Ltd - Page 31

CAPTIONS FOR MAIN FRONT PAGE PICTURES: Top two.

New Generation Energy. See page 29. Below, clockwise from top left: Timber Frames (West) UK, see page 21; The Al Mamoura

Building in Abu Dhabi. The Urban Planning Council headquarters are

on floors 6, 7 and 8. See article on Arena Tiling on page 6; BJ Kenny

Truckmix, see page 6 ; and Trebarwith Road Rustic Quarry, see

advertisement on page 7.

Quote of the month

‘

There’s a part of you that’s glad to see the back of me - Sir Terry

Wogan.

STEPHEN HOMER

Withholding monies

Stephen Homer, a former chairman of the CIC South West (Devon & Cornwall), discusses setting off against an adjudicator’s decision.

READERS may be interested in the recent case of JPA

Design and Build Ltd v Sentosa (UK) Ltd. This High

Court case concerned a contract to construct a medical centre in Brentford. Under this contract, JPA were entitled to an advance payment of £300,000, due to be repaid to Sentosa in the final account calculation. JPA valued their start-up costs at £252,000 and this was the sum paid to JPA as the advance payment. The advance payment to

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EDITORIAL Editor: Paul White Main contributor: Andrew Townsend

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’

JPA was not factored into the final account but was instead deducted from sums due to JPA in an interim valuation. JPA raised no complaint at this time, but when relations later soured, JPA demanded the full £300,000. Sentosa refused this demand and the matter proceeded to adjudication where it was decided that JPA were entitled to the full £300,000. Six weeks later, Sentosa obtained an adjudicator’s decision that they were entitled to liquidated damages of £180,000. However, the adjudicator

said that as a valid withholding notice had not been served, Sentosa could not withhold the £180,000 from JPA and would instead have to bring separate court proceedings.

At the High Court hearing, Sentosa argued that they could set off their award of £180,000 against JPA’s award of £300,000.

The court agreed, saying that the lack of a valid withholding notice from Sentosa should not prevent the set off as it logically followed from the second adjudicator’s decision that Sentosa was entitled to the £180,000 damages.

This means that whilst a lack of a valid withholding notice may prevent withholding monies under a contract, where there is an adjudicator’s decision supporting the basis of withholding the monies, the employer will not be prevented from withholding such money. If anyone has any queries arising from this article I can be contacted via email at s.homer@ashfords.co.uk.

SOUTH West Building & Construction magazine is now

available to read on the worldwide web. The magazine, which is part of Tavistock Newspapers Ltd, can be found on the internet at www.tavistock-today.co.uk. Under menu on the home page, click the Special Publications button. This opens a new page. Then click on the cover of an edition of South West Building & Construction magazine to view that issue in full.

DISCLAIMER: The CIC SW (Devon & Cornwall) will not accept any responsibility for any loss occasional to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the material included in this publication. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32