The Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) has announced that the release of its 2024 Edition of Contracts, starting with the Design and Build Contract, will take place on 17 April 2024 (both hard copy and digital versions).
There will be an online launch event on 1 May 2024, which will give an overview of JCT 2024 and explain the main features of the new edition (see link at the end of this article for registration details). Users who wish to receive hardcopy contracts on release day can now pre-order the following contracts from the JCT online store:
- Design and Build Contract 2024 (DB 2024)
- Design and Build Contract Guide 2024 (DB/G 2024)
- Design and Build Contract 2024 Tracked Change Document (DB 2024 Tracked).
The 2024 suite will introduce the following changes and themes:
Legislative and other updates to legal provisions
Major updates to the Design and Build Contract are expected to include the following:
- changes relating to the new Part 2A of the Building Regulations to deal with the duty holder and competence regime linked to the Building Safety Act;
- termination accounting and payment provisions reflecting the Construction Act; and
- new insolvency grounds reflecting the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020.
Modernising and streamlining
Including adoption of gender neutral language and increased flexibility around the use of electronic notices and signatures.
Future proofing
The JCT 2024 will seek to incorporate previously optional supplementary provisions relating to collaborative working, sustainable development and environmental considerations into the main contract provisions.
There will also be the introduction of a new contract family, the JCT Target Cost Contract (TCC), comprising main contract, sub-contract and guide, although no release date has been announced for this as at the date of publication of this article.
The launch event on 1 May will provide more information about the background and detail of the changes, and include presentations from several members of the JCT’s Drafting Sub-Committee.
Scotland
The Scottish Building Contract Committee (SBCC), the Scottish College of JCT, will be adapting most JCT 2024 contract suites in the coming year to produce contracts compliant with Scots law and practice. Obviously there are key differences in Scotland (for example, the more limited application of the Building Safety Act and a separate building standards regime) which means that the new JCT contracts will need to be appropriately tailored for the Scottish jurisdiction.
Prior to the release of the new SBCC 2024 editions, for projects in Scotland you should continue to use the current editions of SBCC Contracts, which in most cases is the 2016 version.
Northern Ireland
At present, in order to use the JCT suite of contracts in Northern Ireland, there is the need to use a Northern Ireland Adaptation schedule to be compliant with the law of Northern Ireland.
Useful links
Please see link to the JCT Network below to receive advanced information about contract releases, more information about the 2024 suite of documents, and to receive registration notice for the 1 May launch event: JCT Network – The Joint Contracts Tribunal
For further information about Scottish contracts, please visit The Scottish Building Contracts Committee (SBCC)
For Northern Ireland visit: Home - Royal Society of Ulster Architects
We shall provide a more detailed update about the changes to the Design and Build Contract once the contract has been released.
Our Construction team understands the issues our clients are facing. Please contact our team if we can assist you.
Authors: Gemma Wilson, Jonathan Gaskell, Denise O'Hagan
