This work is a further development of Keating on Construction Contracts, 9th Edition, 2015. It follows Keating on JCT Contracts and Keating on NEC3. A large number (14) of members of Keating Chambers, London have contributed to it. Adam Constable QC is the General Editor. The contributions have been so deftly woven together that only a careful textual analysis would identify the hand of the General Editor or an individual contributor. There are few cross-references to Keating on Construction Contracts so this work can be treated as self-contained.

Some points should be made at the outset for readers of the International Construction Law Review. First, although the title might suggest otherwise, the book covers two different types of contracts: contracts for work being carried out in the sea and not on land (i.e. the “Offshore Construction” part) and contracts for shipbuilding and ship repairing, which are called “Marine Engineering”. It is not about the common split, for fiscal and other reasons, between “Onshore” and “Offshore” contracts for land-based works (a subject which has not been studied sufficiently, even by this Review). Secondly, the book is almost exclusively concerned with English law as it relates to these types of contracts, although there are occasional references to Scots law and decisions (e.g. the interesting and instructive case of Scott Lithgow Ltd v Secretary of State for Defence (1989) 45 BLR 1) and to decisions in the USA and Commonwealth (such as the current “flavour of the year” – Persero II – which has been the subject of excellent and practical analyses by Frédéric Gillion, [2016] ICLR 4). Perhaps in the future (this is the first edition) there will be more references to cases in Commonwealth and other jurisdictions (as well as to international arbitration awards). The value of comparative law in relation to works offshore was well illustrated by Ralph Busch’s paper: Construction Contracts for Offshore Wind Farms [2014] ICLR 426. Similarly, there are useful decisions relating to shipbuilding contracts in European and Asian jurisdictions.

As the authors note at the very beginning, in English law there is an important distinction between construction contracts and shipbuilding contracts. The general law of contract applies to the former, whereas the latter have traditionally been treated as contracts for the sale of goods 
(i.e. the ship) and are therefore governed by statute (the Sales of Goods Act 1979, as amended). Thus it has been necessary to turn to books on construction contracts for guidance on the former category and to other