CMS Annual Review of English Construction Law Developments 2015: An International Perspective

Welcome to the 2015 edition of our internationally focused Annual Review of English Construction Law Developments.

2014 has been a year of strategic growth for us beginning with our merger with Dundas & Wilson, Scotland’s leading construction practice, and continuing with the establishment of a permanent construction team in Dubai. The firm’s English law construction practice last year operated in more jurisdictions internationally than ever before and the projects we are involved with are more exciting than ever.

2014 year has been also been a year of considerable development for English construction law. Unusually the FIDIC terms were before the English courts more than once last year and we report on important developments in this regard with three articles in this edition. Good faith remains a topical area of law and one important case last year marks the first time an English court has upheld the validity of an agreement to negotiate in good faith, (albeit within narrow confines). On-demand securities also remain very topical with a decision from England’s highest court on the issue as well as a very recent case (too late to include in this year’s edition) expressly criticising the controversial Doosan decision.

In other developments, termination for convenience clauses, the effect of amendments on liquidated damages provisions and the valuation of omitted works have also received attention in the English cases over the last year. Finally, we conclude this year’s bulletin with an international construction orientated review of recent amendments to the LCIA arbitration rules effective from October 2014 last year.

We hope you enjoy our analysis of the law and recent cases on the above topics. If you have any queries on the topics covered please do not hesitate to contact either me or one of my fellow partners.

In the meantime, we look forward to working with you and wish you a prosperous continuance of 2015.