Unexpected, Unforeseeable, Unaware? Site Conditions – "Contractors Should Beware!"*

As Sarah Buckingham explains, one of the recurring themes in many of the contract negotiations we have seen this year relates to site conditions and who is to take this risk if they turn out to be unexpectedly adverse.

Where the ground conditions or the physical state of existing structures is found to be different from expected, this can obviously have a significant effect on the project. It may result in: a need to change the working method (e.g. the line and level of a trench may remain the same but different equipment and a different working method may be required); a complete revision of the design (e.g. the design of the foundations may need to be altered due to the unexpected nature of the soil at a certain depth); or, in extreme cases, the works may need to be abandoned altogether. The key question is who bears the consequences of the associated cost and delay?