Terms & Conditions

GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

These conditions (“Conditions”), which are construed to be under English Law, are applicable to the appointment of  WB Engineers Ltd (“the Firm”) by The (“Employer”) for the provision of Consulting Engineering Services on the Project.  They should be read in conjunction with other documents and/or the correspondence comprising the Firm’s offer and these documents shall collectively comprise the contract (“Contract”) between the Firm and the Employer.  Where there is any discrepancy between clauses in different documents, the clauses in this document shall apply.

  1. Provisions of Services The Contract for the provision of Consulting Engineering Services (”Services”) incorporates  the Association of Consulting Engineers Agreement  1, except where they are amended by the Conditions herein.‘The fee agreement does not include for the ‘Other Duties to be Performed by the Consultant’ as set out in the various ACE Agreements, but those ‘Other Duties…’ required to be carried out under this engagement can be included in the Firms duties by agreement of an additional fee to cover such ‘Other Duties’.
  2. Firm’s Total Liability The Firm’s total liability for the provision of Services is limited to £1.0 million each and every claim, or any other amount stated in the Contract, whichever is the lesser.
  3. Firm’s Fees The Firm’s fees are exclusive of any allowance for VAT. When payment is made VAT, as appropriate, is to be added at the current standard rate.
  4. Accounts Accounts will be rendered monthly as the Services proceed and will reflect a fair and reasonable proportion of the Services completed. Payment of accounts without retention or discount is required within thirty days from the date of invoice, interest being chargeable on overdue accounts at 2% above the Average Base Lending Rate of the four major clearing banks.
  5. Payment and Suspension The Employer shall not withhold any fee properly due to the Firm without giving the Firm full details and reasons of his intention to withhold payment no later than 4 days prior to the date which on payment becomes due. If payment is withheld and no such fully detailed notice is issued in accordance with the above timescales, the Firm reserves its right to suspend all or part of the servcies until such time as it is fully paid up by the Employer, subject to issue of 7 days notice to the Employer stating the grounds on which the services are to be suspended.
  6. Offer Period The Firm’s offer will remain open for acceptance for a period of 30 days from the date on our covering letter. If for any reason the Firm is not permitted to commence the Work within 30 days of acceptance of our offer, we reserve the right to re-negotiate.
  7. Geographical Limitation Any prices or rates quoted, or standard schedules included, relate to the Services being carried out within the United Kingdom unless specifically stated to the contrary.
  8. Firm’s Documents All reports, drawings, bending schedules, calculation sheets and all other documents prepared by the Firm (“Designs”) are private and confidential between the Employer and the Firm and they may not be used or relied upon by any other party without the prior consent of the Firm.
  9. Title of Documents Title in the Designs, together with all the information contained therein, and all data generated under the Contract between the Firm and the Employer, shall remain vested in the Firm but when the Employer has discharged all its obligations under clauses 3 and 4 above, a non exclusive licence to use the Documents shall be granted to the Employer, the Firm assuming no obligations to third parties and having no liability in relation to the use of the Documents other than for the purposes for which they were originally prepared
  10. Copyright Notwithstanding Condition 8 above, the Employer will nevertheless be granted a licence to reproduce the Designs for the purposes of completing the project for which they were intended.
  11. Consequential Loss Under no circumstances shall the Firm be liable to the Employer for any indirect or consequential loss suffered by the Employer relying on the information included in the Designs prepared by the Firm including (without limitation) loss of profit, loss of contracts or pure economic loss.
  12. Disputes Where the Employer intends to use any Designs or information provided by the Firm in any litigation or dispute resolution procedure of any kind then the Employer will both advise the Firm in writing and seek the Firm’s approval prior to using them.  The Firm reserves the right to refuse to provide copies of Designs for use in litigation or other disputes involving the Firm.
  13. Adjudication The Employer accepts that any disputes can be refered to Adjudication as set out in the current version of The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996
  14. Total Liability The total liability of the Firm to the Employer whether as to specie, quantum or duration of liability, is set out in the Contract and no other obligations are to be implied into the Contract, whether as to the giving of bonds, warranties or guarantees.
  15. Completion Dates The Firm will use all reasonable endeavour to meet quoted completion dates.  However, time is not the essence of the Contract and the Firm will not be liable in cases of late reporting, however caused, nor shall lateness be deemed to be a breach of Contract or an act of negligence.
  16. Changes to Designs Changes to any Designs completed or part completed requested by the Employer, or any other party beyond our control, will be charged to the Employer on a time basis at agreed rates.
  17. Exclusion from Fee . Unless specifically stated, the Firm’s fees do not include for the costs of any services or data which may be required from other Consultants, Authorities or Specialists such as site investigations, traffic counts, flood data, sewer records and the like, or any other services or data not specifically referred to in correspondence between the Firm and the Employer, but which are deemed to be necessary by the Firm for the proper execution of the Services.
  18. Exclusion of Specific Services Unless specifically stated, the Firm’s fees do not include any costs associated with the provision of a flood risk assessment, a surface water drainage strategy, or reports, calculations, drawings, etc, as may be required by the Environment Agency for flood defence consent.
  19. Topographic Survey The Firm will rely on the accuracy of the Topographic Survey provided by the Employer in all aspects of the Services and will not carry out checks on the correctness of the supplied information.  It is the responsibility of the Employer to ensure that the Topographic Survey contains all the information required for the Firm to carry out the Services in accordance with all current standards and legislation as may be required from time to time. The survey should contain all relevant details outside the site boundary, for example such as trees, which may influence any element of design within the site.
  20. Geo-Environmental Site Investigation Reports The Firm will rely totally on the information and conclusions reached by the Specialist Geoenvironmental Consultant or Firm and will not carry out any checks on the correctness of the supplied information nor will it make any comment.  It is the responsibility of the Employer to ensure that they are satisfied with the correctness of the information in the Geoenvironmental Site Investigation Report when this is provided to the Firm by the Employer.  If the Employer has specifically instructed the Firm to review the Geoenvironmental site investigation by the Employer and the Employer has paid a fee for so doing, this clause does not apply.
  21. Any other 3rd Party Information WB Engineers Ltd will rely on the accuracy of all third party information provided by others in all aspects of the Services and will not carry out checks on the correctness of the supplied information.  It is the responsibility of the Employer to ensure that the third party information required for the WB Engineers Ltd to carry out the Services in accordance with all current standards, legislation and good practice as may be required from time to time.We may visit the site as part of our familiarisation process, but whilst there, we will not specifically check the validity of any 3rd party information provided to us. The liability for the accuracy and completeness of all third party information remains entirely with the providers of that information.
  22. Planning Documentation When undertaking detailed design stage services WB Engineers Ltd will rely on the accuracy and completeness of all Planning Stage documentation and reports provided by others in all aspects of the Services and will not carry out checks on the correctness or completeness of the supplied information.  It is the responsibility of the Employer to ensure that all Planning Documentation and reports have been undertaken covering all aspects of the proposed development and that they are fully satisfied on all aspects and risks.
  23. Timber ( or any other material ) Frames by Supplier If the superstructure of a building is to be timber ( or any other material ) framed, designed by a specialist, WB Engineers Ltd will only be responsible for designing foundations to carry design loads provided by the timber frame designer. The client shall ensure that the timber frame designer undertakes the role ‘overall designer’, which is a fundamental requirement of most design codes.”
  24. Collateral Warranties If the Firm is required to enter into any collateral warranties, the Firm reserves the right to charge 5% of the fee associated with those Services requiring warranties to cover escalating insurance costs.
  25. Net Contribution Clause The Firm’s liability for costs under the Contract and any collateral warranties shall be limited to that proportion of such costs which it would be just and equitable to require the Firm to pay having regard to the extent of the Firm’s responsibility for the same and on the basis that all other designers including specialist sub-contractor designers shall be deemed to have provided similar contractual undertakings to the Employer (or, under any collateral warranty, to the beneficiary) and shall be deemed to have paid such proportion which it would be just and equitable for them to pay having regard to the extent of their responsibility.
  26. Disbursements The Firm will require, free of any charge to the Firm, hard copy back-up prints or Pdf electronic copy of any drawings by others that are sent to us in electronic format.  This is to enable us to check that third party e-drawings look as they are intended by their originator should we open or print them
  27. Acceptance of Documents The Firm will not accept delivery of any drawings by others, either in electronic or hard-copy format, unless they are:
    • accompanied by a formal Document Issue Register
    • clearly annotated to show what revisions have been made since their previous issue
  28. CDM Regulations 2015 It is assumed that the Employer is fully aware of his obligations as ‘Client’ under the CDM Regulations, and that he will comply with those obligations.  The owner of the site, or any party recognised as the ‘Client’ under the current CDM Regulations, has a duty under the CDM  Regulations to investigate the site and provide the gathered information, with assistance from the Principal Designer, to the Firm at the outset of the Firm’s engagement. This is a duty that cannot be delegated to the Firm. The Client remains responsible for ensuring that the Client’s duties are met (Industry Guidance and clause 4 of the CDM Regulations). The information, to be provided by the Client, includes the location of existing services (gas, water, drainage, electricity etc.), underground structures or watercourses, information about existing structures on site (stability, structural form etc.) and previous structural modifications etc.The Client’s duties in relation to the provision of this information are set down within Regulation 4(4) of the CDM Regulations. The ACE Conditions of Engagement are fully harmonized with the CDM Regulations. They recognise the Client’s duties under the CDM Regulations by requiring the said information to be provided under the ‘Obligations of the Client to the Consultant’, Section F3 of the ACE Agreement 1, 2009 Edition, and ‘Obligations of the Contractor to the Consultant’, Section F3 of the ACE Agreement 3, 2009 Edition.