ABSTRACT
The rights and obligations of the employer and the contractor are governed by the terms of the contract. None of the standard forms in general use require the contractor to submit a programme in electronic format. Indeed, only one of the Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) series of contracts requires the contractor to submit a programme at all, and that is Standard Building Contract (SBC), which requires the contractor to submit a master programme to the architect. All the programme does is to inform the employer and architect that the contractor intends to complete before the completion date. To deal with the provision of information, the courts have held that although the contractor is entitled to complete before the completion date in the contract, the employer has no obligation to assist the contractor to do so. The contract date for completion, like the other terms of the contract, can be changed by agreement between the parties, the employer and the contractor.
