General Considerations Before considering the provisions of the common construction contracts in detail, the following general recommendations are made:

1. Should payment certificates not have been issued during the period of lockdown, they should be issued as soon as possible after recommencement of works, but no later than the end of May 2020.

2. The lockdown period will give rise to various typical force majeure claims and contractors will be entitled to extension of time claims for the period of the lockdown. Whether those claims will entitle the contractor to further payment will need to be assessed on a contract by contract and claim by claim basis.

3. The Covid-19 epidemic and the continued lockdown regulations may have a further and continued impact to contractors after site re-opening. Those impacts will have to be assessed by the contractors and further claims for resulting delays to the project programmes may need to be considered.

4. Where time limits are applicable to claims and claim notifications, such time period should only be calculated from, at the earliest, the date on which the relevant construction site re-opens.

5. It is recommended that all claims arising from the lockdown be submitted and resolved as soon as possible after recommencement and well before any applicable time limits.

6. Any disputes emerging in regard to claims should be resolved expeditiously by either expert determination or adjudication where not already provided for in the contract.

7. Particular consideration should be given to the H&S requirements of each project and there may be instances where compliance with the required additional measures may cause increased cost to the contractor or result in additional time being required.

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Guidance on the Effect of the Covid-19 Lockdown on construction contracts - Richard Hoal - 28.4.2020 (Legal Update).pdf - 437 KB