On 16 January 2017, the Building Appeals Board (BAB) in Victoria rejected builder LU Simon’s alternative solution for managing the risks associated with the external cladding on the Lacrosse Building. What does this mean for consultants?

Disputing parties will typically have access to the Australian court system[1] to seek resolution of disputes under a consultancy agreement; however there are other forms of dispute resolution which can be contemplated in the consultancy agreement. 

In the last decade, 17 construction workers have been killed and 1,350 injured (many severely) due to falls from height on construction sites, so the need for working safely at height has never been greater.

From July 2017, property developers in NSW will be required to pay a bond of 2% of building costs. The direct purpose of the bond is to offer a new layer of protection to purchasers, by funding rectification of building defects discovered over the first two years after completion.

It’s certainly the big news in commercial contracts for this year! And now the date for these changes to the unfair contracts legislation (contained in the ASIC Act and Australian Consumer Law) which extend it to small business contracts, is imminent: the key date is 12th November 2016.

We are very excited to introduce professionals in the construction industry to informed, an online knowledge platform that gives you easy and convenient access to the tools you need to mitigate risk in your daily commercial activities and to stay up to date with your continued professional development (CPD) and industry news.