A refreshed suite of guidance on managing COVID-19 within construction contracts has been published by the Business Model workstream of the Construction Leadership Council.

The updated documents now include revised information on future-proofing JCT / NEC amendments for new contracts to ensure that if circumstances change parties take a collaborative approach. The suite also provides templates to allow parties to formally record how they can avoid disputes.

The pandemic continues to have a significant impact on the construction sector. Industry has collaborated to address the challenges that have arisen, but concern remains that businesses and their clients could still be bogged down by expensive and lengthy disputes on the impact of the virus on projects.

The publication:
• Updates and brings all guidance and corresponding templates into one place, in an easy-to-use navigable format for reference.
• Provides additional templates to allow parties to conclude their collaboration as a formal adjustment to their contracts.
• Provides a range of templates to support those at different stages of their contracts.

Commenting, Steve Bratt, Chair of the CLC’s Business Models Workstream said:

“Over the last eighteen months, the CLC has advocated for responsible and fair behaviour in both existing and future contractual arrangements to secure the long-term health of the construction industry.

“We supported companies and their clients by publishing extensive contractual guidance for COVID-19 which has been positively received.
“As our industry continues to recover, the CLC has reviewed, updated and added to the suite of contractual guidance helping those on the front line to Build Back Better.”

The guidance documents are available here