Asia-Pacific workshop on SCC and Z clauses

The latest NEC Asia-Pacific Users’ Group workshop was held at Pinsent Masons office in Hong Kong on 16 June 2017. The one-day event was attended by over 50 representatives from clients, contractors, consultants and legal organisations.

Schedules and Z clauses
NEC Users’ Group secretary Robert Gerrard started the morning session with an in-depth look on how the schedule of cost components (SCC) and shorter schedule of cost components are used in the assessment of defined cost when using the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract.

I then highlighted the key NEC contract changes which have been adopted by the Hong Kong government for public works projects through the use of Z clauses.

Mock adjudication and mediation
Together with support from Pinsent Masons partner Peter Clayton, a mock NEC adjudication and mock NEC mediation were conducted during the afternoon session. This gave delegates a clear idea of what was involved with adjudications and mediations and helped them to understand the differences and benefits of each dispute resolution process.

The day was concluded with a brief introduction to the new NEC4 suite of contracts. A more detailed introduction will be provided to Asia-Pacific Users’ Group members at the regional NEC Users’ Group conference on 29 September.