Newsletter
Information for members
June 2005

Previous issue: May 2005 | Next issue: July 2005

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Programme

Unless marked otherwise, the following meetings are free to members and guests. Location maps are now always available on the website.

All are welcome but for those meetings where the organiser’s telephone or email is given, it would be helpful if you could please let them know of your intention to attend .

Tuesday 7 June, 6.15pm
“Improving Payment Practices - your last chance to influence the new Act”
“Adjudication and payment provisions outlined by review committee members”
Speakers: Rudi Klein and Chris Dancaster (together with DTI representation)
Chairman: tba
Venue: National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London SW1
(this is a change of talk from the one previously published, see separate report below)

Tuesday 7 June, 6pm
“Partnering – was marriage so bad after all?”
Speaker: Alan Jenkins, Surveyor and Project Development Manager
Chairman: tba
Venue: Hambledon Suite 1 , The Rose Bowl, Southampton SO30
Organiser: marianharris-deans@scl.org.uk

Thursday 16 June, 6.15pm
“Fast track procedures in adjudication and arbitration”
Speaker: Peter Aeberli, Barrister and Arbitrator
Chairman: tba
Venue Said Business School, Oxford
Organiser: richardwade@scl.org.uk

Tuesday 5 July, 6.15.pm
Joint SCA/ SCL meeting (speaker & chairman tba)
National Liberal Club, 1 Whitehall Place, London SW1

The AGM and Council Election

Approximately 60 members attended the AGM which was held on Wednesday, 11 th May at Middle Temple Hall, London . SCL Chairman Anthony Lavers gave his Chairman's report (a copy of which is attached to this newsletter), and SCL Treasurer Corrina King gave her Treasurer's summary. The candidates standing for Council who were present gave brief election statements. The final ballot papers were handed in and the results of the election were announced later at the annual dinner. The five successful candidates were: Peter Higgins, Peter Horne, Adrian Hughes, Barry Milton and Colin Reese QC.

Newcastle Regional Coordinator

Ken Hughes recently announced his retirement as Regional Coordinator for Newcastle . We therefore invite any member in the Newcastle region who would like to take on the role to put their name forward. The number of SCL members in the region is growing steadily and a great amount of help will be available for anyone who wishes to take on the role. If you are interested, or would like to know more, please contact Jackie Morris at admin@scl.org.uk

Nga mihi atu mai i Aotearoa

The New Zealand based members of the Society of Construction Law would like to invite any members visiting NZ for the Lions tour to join them for drinks at Pasha, Shed 22, Viaduct Harbour , Auckland from 3:30 pm on Wednesday 6 July 2005 . Please contact the country representative, Jane Davies-Evans for further details or to advise attendance: DDI + 64 9 977 5306 or jane.davies-evans@simpsongrierson.com

In addition, the New Zealand Society of Construction Law is holding its inaugural general meeting in Auckland from 5:30 pm on Wednesday 6 July 2005 at the offices of Kensington Swan. UK members of the Society of Construction Law are most welcome to attend. Drinks will be followed by a short meeting. This is just a few minutes walk from Pasha so you can attend both events with ease and spend a few hours with your fellow construction professionals.

Improving Payment Practices - your last chance to influence the new Act

The 7 th June meeting in London has been specially rearranged to support the current DTI consultation process regarding amendments to adjudication and payment provisions in the Part II of the HGCR and the Scheme.

Tony Mulcahy of the DTI will summarize progress to date. Speakers Chris Dancaster and Rudi Klein will review the adjudication and payment proposals.  This will include identification of  the matters that were amber or red in the CUB Adjudication Task Force paper (the basis of Sir Michael Latham's report).  Also, some comments on the various opinions behind the bare bones of that report and consideration of whether the consultation has gone far enough.

This special meeting will be an excellent opportunity to both receive updates on this important topic and express your own views. Further information can be found at:
www.dti.gov.uk/construction/hgcra/hgcralead.htm  
www.dti.gov.uk/construction/hgcra/lathamreview.htm

Responses – the deadline is 21st June – are welcome from individuals as well as firms and industry bodies. Hard copies of the consultation paper can be obtained from DTI publications order line telephone: 0845 015 0010 (quoting URN 05/851).

King's conference on the NEC 3 rd edition

The Centre of Construction Law at King's College London is organising a one-day conference on Friday 1 st July 2005 entitled 'The NEC - simply the best?', looking at the benefits and drawbacks of this family of forms and at the changes in the much anticipated Third Edition. SCL members qualify for a substantial discount for bookings received before the end of Friday 10 th June. Get more details and the booking form in PDF format at www.scl.org.uk/events/fliers/KingsCollege2005.pdf

British Franco Lawyers Society: Evening Conference

You are invited to attend “Arbitration – A Tripartite Comparison and Review” an evening conference organised by the British Franco Lawyers Society. The speakers will be John Tackaberry QC ( England and Wales ), Professor Emmanuel Gaillard ( France ) and Lord Dervaird ( Scotland ). The event will be held in the Lloyd George Room of the National Liberal Club, 1 Whitehall Place, London SW1 at 6pm on Monday, 27 th June and is free of charge.

SCL Membership

A reminder to members that the Society has no corporate membership. This means that, even if your subscription is paid by your company, membership belongs to you and not to your company. It follows therefore that if you move, you take your membership with you. If you are planning to move to another company, please don’t forget to let admin have your forwarding details so that we can keep our membership list up to date (or you can of course log onto the web and update your own details).

SCL Members Directory 2005/2006

A final reminder that the Members Directory will go to print very shortly. Please check online if the address, telephone, fax and email we currently have for you on the database are correct, and update where necessary. Alternatively, ask admin to confirm and/or update your details.

Please note: If you do not want your name and contact details to be printed in the hard copy directory, you can either log this online yourself, or let admin know so that your name can be omitted.

Avoidance of doubt

Members of Council have been contacted by some members concerning possible confusion arising from the advertisement of  construction law seminars by an organisation using the initials SGCL. For the avoidance of doubt, SCL has no connection with that organisation or its seminars. I hope this provides any clarification which had become necessary.

Anthony Lavers
Chairman.

Membership and SCL logo clarification following recent queries

All members are reminded that:

• Membership of the Society does not carry a qualification as such, however SCL Membership may be mentioned on a CV.

• Members who have a web site can create a link to the SCL web site but the Society will only link to non-commercial organisations from its own web site ( www.scl.org.uk).

• Membership of the Society does not allow members to use the SCL logo as part of their individual or corporate promotional material.

• The SCL logo can be used for promotional material involving events (such as conferences) in which SCL is a key partner. However permission to use the logo must always be requested first.

SCL Website – how to register

A reminder to those members who have not yet registered on the website that it’s a once only task and it’s easy to do. Just go to the website homepage www.scl.org.uk click Member Registration, which is listed below the Member Login box on the right hand side of the homepage, and enter your details and a username and password of your own choosing. Your membership number is also asked for (if you don’t know it, then admin can tell you).

Thereafter, you can simply log onto the website using your username and password. When you log in you will see a navigation link to 'Members' which is where you can update your contact details, email subscriptions and data protection information – as well as search for information about other SCL members who have agreed for their data to be accessible to other members on the website (currently over 500 members).

The website is constantly being improved.  If you have any questions, problems or suggestions, please contact our webmaster, Edward Peters, at Webmaster

New Members

Finally, we are pleased to welcome the following new members who joined the Society in May:

Julio Cesar Bueno, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Jonathan Close, Bristol
Anil Dissanayake, Doha, Qatar
Mark Ellis-Jones, London
Nigel Hayward, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Trina Lincoln, Auckland, New Zealand
Khian Seng Low, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Jerome Martin, London
Graham Terry, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Paul Thornton, London
Paul Wilson, London

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