26 Construction contracts

current approach to this, by the use of schedules in the agreement. For the
definition of the services to be performed by the architect, the schedules consist of
two main parts: descriptive project-specific data and a schedule of services, which
includes role specifications of the key project team members, and design plus other
services.
The NEC Professional Services Contract includes in the data provided by the
employer two entries of relevance here. One entry states the services are… and
another states the scope is in… As regards the first entry, the guidance notes
(Institution of Civil Engineers 2005c: 147) suggest that the services should be
described briefly, apparently more for the purposes of identification, rather than
obligation. The scope is to be identified in a separate document, merely
incorporated here by reference. This reference is specified by the client in the
second entry (the scope is in…), usually by citing the title or number of this
document (for example ‘document XY 007’). The guidance notes provide a useful
table collating all the references from the contract to the scope of the consultants’
work (Institution of Civil Engineers 2005c: 26).

2.7.3 Typical conditions

The conditions governing these agreements are laid out in very different ways,
even though they broadly cover the same topics. By way of example, the main
headings of RIBA Standard Agreement 2010 are used in the following brief
descriptions of the key points covered by such agreements.
x Definitions and interpretation: Under this initial heading, basic issues are
determined such as the insignificance of the headings for the interpretation
of the clauses, the choice of law and the parties’ duty to execute any
communication among them in writing.
x Obligations and authority of the architect: The standard of liability is
identified as reasonable skill and care and the extent of authority is
identified. An important point is that the architect acts on behalf of the
client and he or she has to report to the client on the progress in the
performance of the services. The architect is called upon to co-operate with
other appointed consultants, provide them information where needed,
comment where appropriate on their work and integrate the various
contributions into his or her own work.
x Obligations and authority of the client: A range of clauses impose
obligations on the client that enable the project to progress, obliging the
client to supply information, make decisions, give approvals, instruct the
architect, instruct applications for planning legislation, building control and
so on. In terms of work to be performed by others, the client will not hold
the architect responsible for their management and operational methods.
Apart from this, the client is at liberty to hold the architect responsible for
not detecting the others’ failures to perform (given that the architect should
have reasonably detected such failures). To this extent, the clause is in line