Without much fanfare, Victoria recently announced that, from 1 February 2021, it will put in place much stricter prohibitions on certain combustible materials used in wall systems. These will be among the strictest requirements in Australia, and may set a precedent for other states to follow. Previously, the requirements were set by Ministerial Guideline MG-14 […]

“The weakest ink is stronger than the strongest memory.” The above quote from an Unknown Author summarises succinctly the emphasis on note taking and record keeping in a professional role. This article will explain the importance of good record keeping with emphasis on the Court’s interpretation of a document for litigation purposes and also delves […]

PLEASE NOTE: The 2021 Annual Webinar Pass is no longer on sale but please join our mailing list to find out when we start selling next year’s pass. For the past four years, informed by Planned Cover have been providing professionals working in the construction industry with high quality, industry relevant webinars to inform, educate […]

Did you miss something? Well after a year like this one has been, we wouldn’t be surprised! Despite the country being locked down for months on end, the occasional non-COVID related development did happen. Let’s take a moment now to look at some of the industry reforms we’ve kept you in touch with over 2020. […]

Our team of Risk Managers draw on their legal experience to provide the program of webinars, articles and live events you’re used to hearing about on this mailing list. On top of that, we also provide value-add services for many professional indemnity insurance clients of our sister business, Planned Cover. These include the widely used […]

In a perfect world, a design consultant would not proceed to perform services on a project until a full and complete written contract had been entered into and signed by both parties. The benefits of doing just that are significant and include being certain of your rights, obligations and liabilities, having a detailed brief and […]

Among the projects going ahead during the COVID-19 slowdown, there seems to be a particularly high proportion that include sub-consultant engagements. By “sub-consultant”, we mean a specialist consultant who is engaged by you, or by your sub-consultants. We don’t mean other specialist consultants who are engaged by (say) the client or the builder. Every consultant […]

If you joined us for our informed by Planned Cover ‘State of Play’ webinar earlier this year, you would have heard me discuss the outcome of the first ‘combustible cladding’ case to be decided in New South Wales. The decision was appealed by the property developer and builder, with the appeal judgment being handed down […]

Are you seeing clauses where your practice is being asked to waive its rights if it is a member of an association under a Professional Standards Scheme now and/or in the future? Well recently, we have been! Understandably, this is something that many design consultants highlight as a risk due to the idea that they […]