It has been confirmed that the new Construction Act will come
into force in England on 1 October 2011. This follows the issue of
various Commencement Orders.
In Scotland and England, Commencement Orders were issued on 20
and 24 June bringing section 138 of the Local Democracy, Economic
Development & Construction Act 2009 into force on 24 June
2011.
Section 138 adds a new section 106A into the Housing Grants Act.
It contains the power for the Scottish Ministers (in Scotland), the
Secretary of State (in England) and the Welsh Ministers (in Wales)
to make an order that the Act (or any part of it) does not apply to
any description of construction contract related to the carrying
out of construction operations. The reason given for including the
new section 106A at the time the Bill was going through Parliament
was to give the flexibility to deal with specific issues of concern
and to allow the legislation to respond to future contractual
innovation.
