Acting for our client contractor in a short time frame in order to protect their relationship with their developer

We acted for our client who has been working as the main contractor for four years on a site in central London. Our client has been converting a building into offices on a cost plus basis for the developer. When the developer secured a tenant it then became apparent to them that they, as standard, would require collateral warranties. These warranties would also need to be backed up by a formal building contract.

Our client came to us for advice and as they had only ever received a series of “ad hoc” purchase orders to date, this meant retro-fitting a formal JCT contract. In addition to this, our work had to be completed in a very short space of time in order to avoid the tenant ‘walking away’ from the developer and the site. We were able to act in accordance with our client’s instructions by adapting documents and negotiating a suitable collateral warranty. Legally our client was under no obligation to do so but they explained that they wished to comply in order to secure further work from the developer.

Through successful negotiation and by completing the requisite documents in the short time frame we kept our client’s relationship with the developer healthy. We were pleased to be able to do whilst also ensuring that our client’s interests were protected and that they were avoiding exposure to any greater and unreasonable liability either under the retroactive building contract or the warranty.