ABSTRACT
The time and cost risks of the effects of voluntary change cannot be transferred to the contractor. So long as the employer relies on the right to vary the works it must necessarily carry the liability for the effects of any change so ordered; that applies irrespective of whether the contract is “build only” such as JCT 98 SFBC, “turnkey” or “EPC” such as FIDIC silver book, “design and build” such as JCT 98 WCD or JCT MPF, “the one stop shop” as design and build is sometimes called, “management contracting” as with JCT 98 MC, “partnering” as with PPC2000, or even if the contract is a bespoke concoction with the wonderfully reassuring (but deceptively misleading) title of “guaranteed maximum price”. The contract in Skanska Construction Ltd v. Egger (Barony) Ltd [2002] EWHC 773, for example, was a “Guaranteed Maximum Price Contract” for a £11.5 million factory finished six months late and resulted in a claim for an additional £12 million over and above the £13.5 million actually paid.
