This Report deals primarily with an innovative new standard form of building contract issued by the Joint Contracts Tribunal (the JCT) for use on major building contracts. In passing, it should be noted that the virtual monopoly over UK building contracts previously enjoyed by the JCT forms is increasingly being broken by the use of the New Engineering Contract (the NEC), and that the JCT Major Project Form may in part be a response to this pressure from the NEC—in both its content and its drafting style it is certainly much more than just another variant of the existing JCT forms. We also comment briefly on a privately produced set of amendments which is intended to allow the Society of Construction Law’s Delay and Disruption Protocol to be incorporated into the JCT standard forms. Finally, we include case reports of relevance to the law of guarantees and estoppel, contract interpretation, agreements to agree, withholding notices and enforcement of adjudicators’ awards, alternative dispute resolution and the obligations of solicitors in relation to insurance policies.

Last year we noted that the recently published JCT Major Project Form (the MPF) contained numerous innovations. The language of the MPF is also much more concise and straightforward than most other JCT standard forms of building contract, and the new contract has generally been well received by commentators as being clear and practical. However, it is not yet widely used. The associated Major Project Form Sub-Contract (the Sub-Contract) was published in April this year, which provides a timely opportunity to look in more depth at the key provisions in the MPF and the Sub-Contract, particularly where they differ from other JCT standard forms.