ABSTRACT
Quality in Construction” in Uff and Capper (eds), Construction Contract Policy (King’s College, London, 1989) chapter 10 at pages 143-144. Compare Gray v TP Bennett & Son (1987) 43 BLR 63 at 78, where Judge Sir William Stabb QC held that although a clerk of works was an employee of the public sector client (a hospital), “he was also the eyes and ears of the architect”. In Chuang Uming (Pte) Ltd v Setron Ltd [2000] 1 SLR 166 [Sing CA], it was held that any failure by the owner’s clerk of works to detect defects in the construction works did not absolve the architect / contract administrator from his own failures to supervise the works. 13 East Ham Corporation v Bernard Sunley & Sons Ltd [1966] AC 406 at 443, per Lord Upjohn. 14 See paragraphs 1.64-1.67. 15 See generally Jeffery, “Monitoring Large Projects – An Additional Benefit” [1985] ICLR 115; Young, “Reporting Engineer – A Question of Liability” [1985] ICLR 287. 16 See, eg, the JCT Standard Building Contract, 2011 Edition, clauses 4.10.2 (Quantity Surveyor to value contractor’s applications for payment in certain circumstances) and 5.2.1 (Quantity Surveyor values variations); AS 4000-1997, clause 21; FIDIC Red Book (1999) clauses 3.1 and 3.2; JCWC Standard Form of Building Contract, 2006 Edition, clauses 1.8 and 32.1(5). 17 John Laing Construction Ltd v County and District Properties Ltd (1982) 23 BLR 1. 18 Such a person is usually a site manager or a project manager, or a person of cognate role (or even a “Richtmeister”: see Biffa Waste Services Ltd v Maschinenfabrik Ernst Hese GmbH [2009] QB 725 at 731 [9]). 19 Although a contract may call for the contractor to nominate its representative whose functions may include acting as the point of contact for the receipt of instructions from the contract administrator: see
the works is principally a matter for the contractor, not the contract administrator.
