Construction Law
CHAPTER 15
CONSULTANTS
Page 1339
Introduction
15.01 The term “consultant” is usually used to describe a person who provides purely services for a construction or engineering project, as opposed to supplying materials and performing work with them. It could be said that a consultant is a person who does not build, but nevertheless provides project input. There is, in today’s construction and engineering industries, a great variety of consultants who provide services in general or sometimes very specific fields. It is usual for architects, civil engineers, structural engineers, quantity surveyors, and mechanical and electrical services engineers to be engaged in construction and engineering projects. On some projects, particularly large retail, residential or commercial building projects, it may be expected that consultants whose individual expertise concerns such matters as planning, rights of light, environmental impact, environmental remediation, access for disabled persons, acoustics, landscaping, fire safety and building maintenance will be engaged. This reflects the fact that construction and engineering projects are often very sophisticated in their requirements, and that input from specialists is often needed in order to ensure the successful completion of a project. One of the consequences of this specialisation has been the emergence of multi-disciplinary