SCL Pre-AGM Talk:
"25 Years of Unforeseen Conditions in Singapore"

28 August 2008,
Suntec City NUSS
Guild House, Level 5,
Suntec City Mall
at 5-6pm

25 years ago, construction of Singapore’s MRT system commenced using a modified FIDIC Form of Contract. This was the first time that the concept of “conditions which could not reasonably have been foreseen” became widely debated in the local construction industry. It was also, very nearly, 25 years ago that the Speaker arrived in Singapore.

The initial enthusiasm for “Clause 12 claims” has subsided and many contractors are now deeply sceptical about the prospects of demonstrating that adverse conditions could not have been reasonably foreseen.

Using actual examples from the past 25 years, the Speaker will explain the principles and common pitfalls in the context of adverse conditions frequently encountered in Singapore.

After the presentation, we will convene the AGM for voting members only.

To register, please complete and send us the registration form with cheque payment to the SCL (Singapore) Secretariat by 14 August 2008!

[View brochure]

4th Annual Joint SCL-Law Society Law Conference

Organised by Society of Construction Law (Singapore) and the Law Society of Singapore

31 July 2008,
Grand Plaza Park Hotel
City Hall
at 9am-5pm

The annual Society of Construction Law (Singapore) & Law Society of Singapore Joint Construction Law Conference is now into its fourth year. The high turnout of participants at past conferences, as well as the ability to attract distinguished professionals in their relevant field of construction to speak or chair modules at the event, attest to the success of this annual collaborative event.

This Conference is for anybody who has an interest in legal developments or legal aspects concerning the construction industry, including lawyers, architects, engineers, surveyors, developers and contractors.

Attend the full-day Conference or select either the Morning or Afternoon Modules:

Morning Module: “Engineering & the Law”:

Session 1 – Bridging the Gap between Construction Law and Construction Projects Challenges
Session 2 – Engineering 101 for Non-Engineers – Common Technical Considerations
Session 3 – Engineering the Law – Science or Art?

Afternoon Module: “Construction Law Updates 2008”:

Session 4 – Update and Review on Developments in Construction Law
Session 5 – Non-Compliance with the Security of Payment Act: Are the Adjudications invalid? - Other current issues in connection with construction industry adjudications

[View brochure]

Post-event Update on "Networking Cocktail 2008"

About 60 members and their guests turned up at the Society's annual networking cocktail, held at the Fullerton Boathouse on 19 June 2008. In addition to an address by the Chairman, Naresh Mahtani, there was a presentation by committee member, John Sanderson, on the topic of construction challenges in the Maldives. As usual, this was an excellent and enjoyable opportunity for construction law and construction industry practitioners to meet informally and discuss industry developments in Singapore and the region.

Here are some photos taken at the event:

Post-event update on "Programming in Construction"

More than 120 members and guests attended a talk on "Programming in Construction" by SCL member Anthony Clifford on 21 May 2008 at the Supreme Court Auditorium.

Mr. Clifford, a chartered engineer and principal of International Construction Consultants Pte Ltd, has had over 40 years' experience in civil engineering and in programming in various major projects in Singapore (such as the overall planning of the Changi Water Reclamation Plant) , the United Kingdom, China and the Middle East. He was the project and consortium director of the Da Chang Water Treatment Plant in China, which jointly with the Hong Kong Airport project, won the "Award for the Best Performance by a British Company Anywhere in the World", an annual award by the British Department of Trade and Industry Mr. Clifford handed out a well-researched 60-page paper on the subject, and in his presentation, included examples of programming strategies in some of his previous projects, as well as covered the basics and some details of several aspects of programming, such as types and formats of programmes, critical paths, significance of programme approvals, programme monitoring and floats.

Dear Members,

The Society of Construction Law, since its inception five years ago, has provided members and their guests a convenient meeting point to gather socially and intellectually and discuss matters of mutual interest relating to construction law and practice.

The Society is an “extra-curricular activity” of volunteers who are busy practitioners. Thankfully, with active guidance from a dedicated and enthusiastic council and support from an able secretariat, the Society has evolved steadily since its inception in 2002, with now about 150 members and an array of educational and social events. Those who have yet to do so might want to foray into our website at www.scl.org.sg for archives of facts, details and photographs of our events.

Pursuant to the meetings of the various SCLs in Singapore during the International Conference in October 2006, the SCL in England has recently been in contact with us and other SCLs (including the recently formed new addition in Mauritius). One of the initiatives by the SCL in England has been to simplify and standardize the SCL logo to be used by SCLs around the world, and accompanied by the name of the respective country, so that SCLs around the world can have a solid identity that we can all share. The new standardized logo appears on the masthead of this newsletter.

The next International SCL Conference is being organized by the SCL in England to take place in London in October 2008. It will be a good idea to mark this event in your calendars, as the SCL there is planning an event along the size and quality of our memorable international conference in Singapore in 2006.

The Society’s plans for 2008 include a joint conference with the NUS School of Building and the Environment, in addition to our annual joint conference with the Law Society; seminars, including some to be held in conjunction with the respective reports issued by the three Working Groups on contracts, costs and codes; as well as a couple of networking events for members.

On behalf of the Council, I wish all members a great and vibrant year ahead, success in their work and endeavours, as well as time to relax and enjoy the fruits of their labours.

Best wishes,
Naresh Mahtani
Chairman, Society of Construction Law (Singapore)

Contracts including construction contracts have traditionally been drafted in legalese – difficult and often archaic language that parties to the contract often do not understand. It is however particularly important for construction contracts to be drafted in language that the parties to the contract and the party who administers the contract truly understands. This is because these contract administrators are technically qualified in construction related areas but not usually legally qualified.

There have been major developments over many years in more developed countries on modernising legal drafting. The benefits of modern plain language drafting in saving cost, saving time, and avoiding ambiguity have been well recorded. At the same time judges have been highly critical of construction contracts as being obscure and ambiguous – resulting in unwarranted disputes.

This international conference will call on international experts to share their views about how modern legal drafting can benefit the government and society in general and the construction industry in particular. Malaysian case studies on modernising construction contracts drafting will be included as illustrations.

FOR ENQUIRIES AND REGISTRATION, please contact Mohammad Farris (tel: 26170345, email: farris@cidb.gov.my) Farah Fazini (tel: 26170298, email: farah@cidb.gov.my) or Noridah (tel: 26170351, email: noridah@cidb.gov.my).

Inaugural SCLHK Prize

The Society of Construction Law Hong Kong has recently introduced a paper writing competition for professionals with an interest in construction law and invites entries on a worldwide basis as long as the entry is relevant to the Hong Kong construction industry.

The closing date for this year’s entries is 30th June 2008. For more details, please refer to the information sheet.

Invitation to IAMA Conference "ADR: The Boom and Beyond" (11-13 April 08, Fremantle, Western Australia)

The Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators (Australia) has kindly extended an invitation to SCL Singapore members to attend the above Conference at preferential rates (AUD595 for early bird registrations before 7 Mar 08 and AUD705 thereafter).

Please refer to the brochure for more details or visit their website at www.iama2008.org.

For enquiries and registrations, please contact the IAMA representative Alex Durning directly at Tel: +61 (0)7 3025 3212, Mob: +61 (0) 439 924 270 or email: Alex.Durning@trett.com.

Post-event update on Joint SCL (Singapore)-Lighthouse Club Get-Together

SCL (Singapore) had a joint social and networking evening with the Lighthouse Club (Singapore) in the evening of 21 Feb 2008 at the Penny Black at Boat Quay. The get-together, held over drinks and food, gave members of both societies and their guests a wonderful opportunity to meet each other, and to learn of the objectives and activities of the respective societies.The Lighthouse Club promotes fellowship and co-operation amongst its members, and also maintains a Benevolent Fund to provide financial assistance to victims of accident or illness in the construction industry. At the event, amongst other things, the leaders of both societies invited attendees to join the respective societies and discussed future joint events.

Dear Members,

The Society of Construction Law, since its inception 5 years ago, has provided members and their guests a convenient meeting point to gather socially and intellectually and discuss matters of mutual interest relating to construction law and practice.

Considering that the Society as an “extra-curricular activity” by volunteers who are busy practitioners, thankfully with administrative support from an able secretariat, the Society has evolved steadily since its inception in 2002, with now about 156 members and a collection of regular educational and social events throughout the years. For those yet to do so, you might want to foray into our website at www.scl.org.sg for archives of facts, details and photographs of our events.

Pursuant to the meetings of the various SCLs in Singapore during the International Conference in October 2006, the SCL in England has recently been in contact with us and other SCLs (including the recently formed new addition in Mauritius). One of the initiatives by the SCL in England has been to simplify and standardize the SCL logo to be used by SCLs around the world, and accompanied by the name of the respective country, so that SCLs around the world can have a solid identity that we can all share. The new standardized logo appears on the masthead of this newsletter.

The next International SCL Conference is being organized by the SCL in England to take place in London in October 2008. It will be a good idea to mark this event in your calendars, as the SCL there is planning an event along the size and quality of our memorable international conference in Singapore in 2006.

The Society’s plans for 2008 include a joint conference with the NUS School of Building and the Environment, in addition to our annual joint conference with the Law Society; seminars, including some to be held in conjunction with the respective reports issued by the three Working Groups on contracts, costs and codes; as well as a couple of networking events for members.

On behalf of the Council, I wish all members a great and vibrant New Year ahead, success in their work and endeavours, as well as time to relax and enjoy the fruits of their labours.

Best wishes,
Naresh Mahtani
Chairman, Society of Construction Law (Singapore)

Post-event update on "The Use of Advanced Forensic Animations in the Resolution of Complex Disruption Claims"

The 29th November 2007 saw members of the Society at the Singapore Mediation Centre attending what surely must have been one of the Society’s more unusual talks. This was on the use of advanced forensic animations in the resolution of complex disruption claims by Keith Pickavance.

The proposition was that computer animations could be used to simulate the as-built sequence of events and compared with the planned work sequence. This is particularly relevant to projects characterized by a very large number of activities. Mr Pickavance demonstrated this with a project on which this exercise had been carried out. The resultant animation, which appears as a sort of large series of snapshots of the project, the whole presented in fast forward mode, provides for immediate comprehension of a complex scenario.

Enlightening as such animations might be, cautions were sounded in terms of their value as evidence. The courts have been slow to accept such animations as evidence and feedback from the audience suggested that arbitrators might share this caution. There were those who said they had employed such techniques but only by way of introducing their arguments, not as primary evidence. Nevertheless, the possibilities presented were intriguing with obvious possibilities of practical applications.

Post-event Update on "Dispute Resolution in the Energy Sector"

The Society of Construction Law (Singapore) was pleased to present an afternoon of presentations by Dr. Robert Gaitskell Q.C. and Simon Hughes of Keating Chambers on “Dispute Resolution in the Energy Sector” and "Some Lessons from FIDIC" respectively.

Topics covered included multi-layered disputes clauses using a variety of techniques, including negotiation, mediation, adjudication, expert determination and dispute boards, besides arbitration as an ultimate fall-back.

The seminar, held at the scenic Supreme Court viewing gallery, attracted about 90 members and guests, and the seminar package included copies of Dr. Gaitskell's 94-page paper on the subject. During the seminar, Dr. Gaitskell kindly presented to the Chairman, Naresh Mahtani, for the SCL's library, a gift copy of "Engineers' Dispute Reolution Handbook", which is written by a specialist team of authors from Keating Chambers and editted by Dr. Gaitskell. (Members are welcome to borrow the book by calling or emailing the Chairman).

Here are some photos taken at the event:

Annual General Meeting 2007 – 24 August 2007

The Society's Annual General Meeting was held at M Hotel from 6.30pm to 7.05pm, following its seminar on "Challenges in the Implementation of an Extension of Time (EOT) in Singapore", which was attended by some 90 participants. It was attended by 30 members from across the construction industry. Members were feted to wine and food, as is traditional for the SCL's events, and it was an excellent opportunity for members to catch up and be posted on events, plans and Society news.

[Read more]

Please note that the contact details of the SCL Secretariat will be changed to the following with effect from 24 December 2007:

If your work is directly or indirectly connected with the construction industry and the law relating to it and you have a serious and active interest in construction law, why not consider being a member of the Society of Construction Law (Singapore)?

More about the benefits of SCL membership here...

Just complete our Part Application for 2008 and send it in with payment to:

Secretariat, Society of Construction Law (Singapore)
c/o Intellitrain Pte Ltd
3 Raffles Place
#07-01 Bharat Building
Singapore 048617

Tel: 31273797
(VOIP no., no 6 prefix required)
Fax: +65 63299699
E-mail: membership@scl.org.sg

We welcome feedback and contributions from members via e-mail at feedback@scl.org.sg.