Hybrid Construction Contracts

Hybrid construction contracts are those that include both construction operations covered by the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (the Act) and non-construction operations. Is it, therefore, obligatory that hybrid contracts include distinct notifications with separate breakdowns for each type of operation?

This is an important question and one that was considered in the case of C Spencer Limited -v- M W High Tech Projects UK Limited [2020] EWCA Civ 331. In this case, the uncertainty stemmed from the fact that 'construction operations' are covered under the Act while 'non-construction operations' are not. It was a question of whether the wording of section 104(5) of the Act, 'only so far as it relates to construction operations', should be written into the provisions of a contract relating to payment.