The New Year has been ushered in by an alarming surge in hospitalisations and sadly a dramatic increase in deaths from the ongoing pandemic. The Government was under increasing pressures to take action. Consequently, the Prime Minister has on 3 January announced another national lockdown, with measures which became law on Wednesday 6th January 2021.
To read the full text of this blog post by Duane Morris attorney Vijay Bange, please visit the Duane Morris London Blog.
Throughout the lockdown in the UK, the construction industry has been allowed to remain open for business providing that compliance with the Public Health England measures is maintained. However, most national house builders at least had taken a decision to close sites. Boris Johnson on Sunday 10th May, in his long awaited press briefing on the potential relaxation of social distancing road map, made clear that those in construction and manufacturing should go back to work, if they could.
To read the full text of this blog post by Duane Morris attorney Vijay Bange, please visit the Duane Morris London Blog.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has released interim guidance regarding construction in New York state. These guidelines apply to both nonessential construction businesses in regions that are permitted to reopen and essential construction businesses throughout the state that were previously permitted to remain open.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, please visit the firm website.
Lean Thinking as a concept has its roots in Toyota’s production system. One of the primary tenets of this concept is to aim to perfect process, as continuous improvements address root causes of quality issues, and the elimination of waste.
The construction industry, on the other hand, has long been criticised for being wasteful, and failing over the decades to deliver good value. Furthermore, it has a reputation for being an adversarial industry with significant disputes. There have been countless reports over the decades attempting to work out how these ills can be addressed.
To read the full text of this blog post by Duane Morris attorney Vijay Bange, please visit the Duane Morris London Blog.
On May 15, 2020, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Orders 202.6 and 202.8, which stopped all nonessential work in New York, will expire. New York will then shift to “New York Forward,” the state’s plan to reopen nonessential businesses and return people to work, without triggering renewed spread of COVID-19 or overwhelming the healthcare system.
To read the full text of this Duane Morris Alert, please visit the firm website.
Last week we discussed, in light of the encouragement from Robert Jenrick MP (Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government) for the construction industry to remobilise, the government’s apparent reluctance to provide confidence and clarity for the construction industry in respect of the safe operation of sites.
In the Prime Minister’s address to the nation on 10 May 2020, he re-stated that encouragement for the construction industry, where possible, to return to work.
To read the full text of this post by Duane Morris attorneys Steve Nichol and Matthew Friedlander, please visit the Duane Morris London Blog.
The construction industry in the UK has been afforded the freedom to continue work where it is safe to do so since the lockdown was implemented. It is a freedom that the sector has done its best to exploit where it can, with significant works continuing on a variety of essential and less essential projects. A number of leading construction companies and housebuilders have continued or recommenced work where they are able to do so, and a number of high profile projects are apparently progressing well. Build UK has reported that its members, who comprise some of the largest contractors operating in the UK, are now working on 73% of sites (up from 69% last week). However, the issues for the industry facing the prospect of full remobilisation to all sites have not changed.
To read the full text of this post by Steve Nichol and Matthew Friedlander, please visit the Duane Morris London Blog.
In the UK, adjudication remains one of the quickest and most cost effective methods of resolving construction disputes. As most people adjust to the “new normal” of working from home, an away from the usual office environment, adjudication may not be at the top of everyone’s agenda. That is somewhat ironic given that the current COVID-19 situation is fast becoming a potential breeding ground for construction disputes. Projects are in delay, labour and materials supply may be an issue and cashflow may become and inevitable effect of the lockdown.
To read the full text of this blog post by Duane Morris attorneys Vijay Bange and Tanya Chadha, please visit the Duane Morris London Blog.
Social distancing measures and lockdowns have been replicated across the globe and have brought world economies to all time lows. Understandably, there is now a degree of anxiety to getting back to work. The longer the lockdown goes on for, the harder the bounce back may be. Unsurprisingly murmurings of getting the country back to work are beginning to surface. Some manufacturers and building firms that shut down are now slowly preparing to return to work from a state of hibernation.
To read the full text of this blog post by Duane Morris attorneys Vijay Bange and Tanya Chadha, please visit the Duane Morris London Blog.
By Owen Newman and Chris Chasin
Who is in the best position to sustain the loss? And what outcome is in the overall best interests of industry, economy and the public at-large? Governments will grapple with these issues in the context of COVID-19 in the months and years to come. And the construction industry, willing or not, will find itself at the core of these debates as it deals with COVID-19 related cost and schedule impacts caused by work stoppages, disruption of labor resources and productivity, disturbed supply chains and varied safety requirements. Continue reading “Construction Industry at Core of Post-COVID-19 Debates”
