IChemE Construction Act 1996 changes

The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) has published amendments to the payment and adjudication terms of its suite of contracts, following the changes to Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (Construction Act 1996) introduced by Part 8 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 (LDEDC Act 2009). The IChemE state that the amendments should be used with all IChemE contracts dated on or after 1 October 2011, in England and Wales.

The amendments replace the payment clause of the affected contracts, while only minor alterations are required to the adjudication provisions. Despite the fact that some contracts entered into using IChemE forms may not be "construction contracts" under the Construction Act 1996, we anticipate that on balance it remains helpful for users to only have to understand and deal with one set of payment and adjudication obligations.

We have updated Practice note, IChemE contracts to link to the amendments published online by the IChemE, as well as including those links in our individual practice notes on some of the most popular IChemE contracts.

The IChemE's suite of international contracts is not affected by these changes.

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