PRESS RELEASE: WEDNESDAY 16TH OCTOBER 2002

LAUNCH OF THE SOCIETY OF CONSTRUCTION LAW
DELAY AND DISRUPTION PROTOCOL

NOTE: this press release is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file.

Sir Philip Otton (President of the Society of Construction Law) enthusiastically welcomed the launch of the “SCL Delay and Disruption Protocol”. Sir Philip Otton chaired the launch event held in London earlier today and said it marked an important milestone for the Society of Construction Law. The launch was attended by almost 200 senior representatives of the Construction Industry and the Legal Profession. Christopher Miers (Chairman of the Society of Construction Law) commented on the significance of the day to the Society as a whole.

The Delay and Disruption Protocol

The Protocol is the result of an extensive 2 year industry wide consultation and drafting process carried out by a panel of experts representing all sections of the construction industry and the legal profession.

The Protocol exists to provide guidance to all parties to the construction process when dealing with time/delay matters on construction projects. It recognises that transparency of information and methodology is central to both dispute prevention and dispute resolution.

The Protocol will guide all those involved in the construction process on the management of issues of timing and delay, in order to both reduce the scope for argument over causes of delay and to resolve such disputes efficiently.

Jeremy Winter, Chairman of the Protocol’s Drafting Panel, commented, “The key to avoiding costly disputes is to tackle them early on. The Protocol provides an important framework to help people do this."

Richard Bayfield, another member of the drafting panel mentioned “the protocol’s emphasis on pre-planning and transparency fits well with the philosophy advocated by Sir John Egan in Rethinking Construction and Accelerating Change”.

Copies of the Protocol and an online version can be obtained through the SCL Protocol website www.eotprotocol.com

For more information, please contact:

Christopher Miers, Chairman, Society of Construction Law on 020 7583 2244
Jeremy Winter, Construction & Projects Partner, Baker & McKenzie on 020 7919 1269

About the Society of Construction Law

Since its foundation in 1983, the Society of Construction Law has worked to promote for the public benefit, education, study and research in the field of construction law and related subjects (including adr, arbitration and adjudication), both in the UK and overseas.

The Society of Construction Law now has about 1400 members from all sectors of the construction industry and the legal profession (currently membership is 40% non-lawyer, 60% lawyer).
The Society holds frequent meetings and other events in London and around the UK. Further information is found at the Society’s website www.scl.org.uk.