I AM a firm believer that works contracts should be fit for purpose and as user-friendly as possible.

We’re not all lawyers. We shouldn’t have to be to be able to understand a contract that we have to use on a daily basis: all contractors, whatever their size, should be able to easily interpret them.

As we all know in the construction industry, it is vital to keep all works contracts both as up to date as possible – to include ever-changing legislation and laws – and as user-friendly as they can be for use by non-lawyers in the workplace.

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) recently approached us at Dickinson Dees with two of their local contracts for Small and Minor Works, which they thought could be combined and streamlined as they were very similar.

The CIOB are the international voice of the building professional, representing a body of knowledge concerning the management of the building process, and publishing contracts from small works all the way up to international level. We worked in conjunction with another Constructing Excellence member, Northumbria University’s School of the Built Environment, to start researching and held some local focus groups with industry experts. This helped us gain valuable insight into what the contract should contain, and we began work on the new amalgamated version.

From this, the contract was drafted, approved and emerged more streamlined and up to date, making it more efficient. Endorsed by TrustMark, the quality mark operating to government standards for tradespeople working locally, this contract has proved to be very popular after only three months, according to sales from CIOB.

The popularity of the new Small Works contract only serves to further confirm the importance of revision and streamlining, so I would encourage others in the industry to consider doing the same.

As I said earlier, these contracts are relied upon by people who aren’t lawyers and, as such, should be as clear as possible when detailing obligations of involved parties – it’s their livelihoods that are effected.

The contract is available from the CIOB bookshop at www.construction booksdirect.com

Simon Lewis, is head of construction for Dickinson Dees. For more information on Constructing Excellence in the North East, contact chief executive Catriona Lingwood on 0191 374 0233 or catriona@cene.org.uk.