ABSTRACT
The contractor’s paramount obligation is to ‘carry out and complete the Works’. Intermediate Form of Contract, first published in 1984, and the second (ICD16) is essentially a work and materials contract, and makes no reference to the main contractor carrying out design. ICD16 incorporates provisions for the contractor’s design of part or parts of the works, alongside those for the appointment of named sub-contractors. The court found that the duties of the sub-contractor included warning of any aspect of the design it knew to be unsafe. Standard forms of contract and appointment will often set out specific provisions regarding design liability, but these have to be understood in the legal context in which they operate. Viking Grain entered into a contract with White to design and erect a grain drying and storage installation to handle 10,000 tonnes of grain. The contractor should take the cost of compliance with the Construction esign and Management Regulations into account at the tender stage.
