Update on JCT standard forms of contract: revisions and new forms since 1998

1. INTRODUCTION There are currently over 40 standard forms of building contract used in the United Kingdom, emanating from eight publishing sources. Of these, the forms of contract published by the Joint Contracts Tribunal Ltd (the JCT) are the most widely used, and they have the claimed advantage of being both standard and agreed by consensus between representatives of all the interested parties. It should perhaps be noted that JCT forms recognise the law of England as the applicable law, and for work which is carried out in Scotland, the Scottish Building Contract Committee (a constituent member of the JCT) publish their own versions of JCT documents which take account of Scots law. Recent years have seen a considerable amount of publishing activity on the part of the JCT. In a short period straddling 1998 and 1999 all JCT standard forms then existing were revised and republished as 1998 Editions, and over the subsequent years five completely new forms have been published. The diversity of these new documents extends the wide coverage of JCT forms, and demonstrates the resolve of the JCT to respond relatively quickly to changing circumstances and methods within the industry. This article outlines the scope of the 1998 revisions, subsequent amendments to those Editions, and the new forms. This is followed by a complete schedule of all standard forms currently published by the JCT