Introduction

1st October was one of the most significant dates for the construction industry in 2023, bringing in a raft of building safety related changes, including:

• the new building control regime for higher-risk buildings,
• the new dutyholders regime applicable to all building works subject to the Building Regulations 2010,
• the date when all existing higher risk buildings must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator,with the opening of the registers to apply to become a registered building inspector or a building control approver swiftly following on.

To assist you in assimilating the vast amount of change, you’ll find articles discussing many of these key changes as well as a case analysis of the first Court of Appeal decision (URS Corporation Ltd v BDW Trading Ltd) on the extended limitation periods applying to claims under the Defective Premises Act 1972 that were brought into force by the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA).

To keep on top of some of the more interesting recent cases, we have a case law update focussing two recent cases on the theme of terminating construction contracts and a case analysis on the perennial topic of commencing true value adjudications in the wake of a smash and grab adjudication, looking at the recent case of Henry Construction Projects Ltd v Alu-fix (UK) Ltd.

We also review some of the key changes made this year to standard form contracts and those on the horizon.

And last but not least, an article originally published in Construction News, on the Home Office’s crackdown on illegal working and protective measures for the construction industry.

We hope you enjoy reading this edition of Construct.Law. Please do get in touch if you have any comments, questions or suggestions for future articles.