Residential

The TCC has handed down a landmark decision in Crest Nicholson v Ardmore, granting both anticipatory and adjudication based Building Liability Orders and providing important guidance on the scope and application of the BLO regime. This blog examines the judgment and what this decision means in practice for developers, contractors and associated companies.

The NEC’s new Conflict Avoidance Clauses, for use with the NEC4 ECC form, were announced earlier this year and are intended to prevent the escalation of “disagreements” into “disputes”. In this blog, Claire King reviews how they are meant to operate in the context of contracts that are already subject to statutory adjudication and examines the extent to which parties should be adding them to their dispute resolution toolkit.

The UK Supreme Court handed down its much-anticipated judgment in the case of URS Corporation Ltd v BDW Trading Ltd [2025] UKSC 21. The appeal was heard by a full panel of 7 justices who dismissed URS’s appeal on all 4 grounds. The judgment runs to 88 pages and is a must read for anyone working in the construction sector. This article examines the judgment, discussing the key issues arising and practical implications for those likely to be affected, including developers, contractors, consultants and insurers.

BLOs represent a significant change from the usual principle that a company is solely responsible for its liabilities and allow the Court to hold associated companies accountable for building safety failings, following the “polluter pays” principle.  As the body of caselaw under the Building Safety Act 2022 begins to develop, the Court has now made the first BLO and provided