ABSTRACT
The contractor’s paramount obligation is to ‘complete the design for the Works and carry out and complete the construction of the Works’. The Co-operative Insurance Society engaged the contractor Henry Boot on an amended version of JCT80 incorporating the Designed Portion Supplement, where the relevant terms are virtually identical to those of WCD98. An engineer had originally been employed by the Society to prepare a concept design for the structure, and Henry Boot had developed the design and prepared working drawings. The effect is that the contractor is liable to the employer for design in relation to a dwelling to the same extent that an architect would be liable. The employer has an option to limit the contractor’s liability for the consequential losses arising from its failure to meet the design obligations, in addition to any liability for liquidated damages.
