A Christmas message from the SoCLA Chair

Dear Members,

I apologise for the radio silence in the last couple of weeks.?It has been a mad rush to get myself ready for the end of law term before I was physically locked out of chambers!?At times, it felt that I was trying to outrun the spread of omicron in Australia, the march of which seems unstoppable.?I really hope that you all stay safe while having some fun this holiday season.

Advocacy

Last week, SoCLA lodged a submission?regarding the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Amendment (Building Work Levy) Regulation 2021.?The proposal is to impose a small levy (in the order of just over $100 per apartment) on all developers of residential apartment buildings.?Thank you to Emma Jamieson and William Calokerinos for their comments on the draft regulations.

A copy of the submission can be downloaded here.?

Budget

The Board has finalised its budget for the coming year and has approved some upgrades for our existing website.?The new website will look more like the SCL UK?website which itself has undergone a recent upgrade.?It will hopefully provide you with a better user experience.

After much deliberation, the Board?have reluctantly approved the first ever membership rate increase, with an increase for existing/renewing members of 15%. New members and members who have let their membership lapse will have a higher one off membership fee. This new fee structure provides a 10% discount to existing members who renew on time.?The?increase is necessary to cover the administrative expenses that SoCLA now has in the form of our wonderful Cathie Witcombe,?without whom SoCLA would not be functioning smoothly and Louise McManamon, our mentoring co-ordinator and executive support. Many of you will recall that?SoCLA ran for many years with only the help of volunteers.?However, as the Society grew and its range of member offerings grew, it became necessary to acquire the assistance of first Cathie and then Louise.?I hope that you agree with us that both Cathie and Louise are key to the smooth operation of the Society. While the increases take effect from 1 January 2022, the increases will not affect those who have already renewed their membership.?I encourage all of you who intend to renew their membership for the coming year but have not gotten around to it to do so before the?end of the year.?

Our Conference

Our?conference?organisation is continuing and?I hope to see many of you (including the Western Australians and Queenslanders!)?in Hobart in March.?In the meantime, I encourage you to take advantage of the supplemental call for abstracts.?Details are below.

Finally, our member of the week is Clark Briggs. Combining his expertise in technical engineering and construction law,?Clark is a passionate advocate of the construction industry?and we are thrilled to feature him this week. Further details of Clark follow below.

SoCLA Member Profile - Clark Briggs

A huge advocate for the industry and the Society, Clark has been a member of SoCLA for 7 years; having attended several domestic and international events and says he is constantly astounded by the exceptional calibre of its members.

Clark started his career in construction whilst working on the redevelopment of Southern Cross Station [formerly Spencer Street Station] with the then Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd [now CPB Contractors] as an Engineer. He has worked in remote areas of Australia constructing rail, roads, dams, mine infrastructure and buildings.?Almost 10 years ago he found an interest in the law.

Having completed the Master of Construction Law at Melbourne Law School and now in the final subjects of a Juris Doctor, he is immensely passionate about the legal, engineering and construction industries. He owns and runs a construction consulting business out of his home town of Melbourne called CMC Group Int Pty Ltd which provides engineering, management, and commercial support to the civil construction industries participants across this great country.

SoCLA Practice Note No 2: Risk in Construction Projects

Practice Note No 2: Risk in Construction Projects is now available here?from the Resources section of our website.

SoCLA Advocacy

• Consultation on draft Security of Payment Regulations (WA)

On 25 June 2021, the Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2021 (the Act) was enacted to improve payment protections for contractors working in the WA building and construction industry.

Before all the sections of the Act can be proclaimed to commence operation, a number of administrative and technical matters must be prescribed by regulations.

The draft Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Regulations 2022 and Building Services (Registration) Amendment Regulations 2022 are available for public consultation.

The draft regulations and explanatory statement can be downloaded here.

Please contact us if you are interested in assisting with the Society's submission on these Regulations.

• Standards Australia review of AS400 and AS4902

Standards Australia has launched a new initiative, proposing a review of AS4000 and AS4902, as well as the consolidation of AS2124 and AS4000 into a single form. To that end, we invite our members to review the scope below and submit responses to?[email protected]?before 1 February 2022.

Scope

• Conduct a focussed review of AS 4000 and AS 4902.
• Update the standard forms to reflect changes in the legislative (e.g., GST) and legal landscape (case law).
• Consolidate, as much as possible, into a single form, replacing both the earlier forms of AS 2124 and AS 4000.?AS 2124 to be withdrawn from market.
• Contemporise the language.?
• Include a preface on the intended use of the documents and copyright materials.
• Following the update of AS 4000 and AS 4902, SA commits to review and update the complete suite of AS 4000 based documents.?
• This would include the Administration manual for AS 4000—1997 General conditions of contract (HB 140-2000).

Out of scope

• Risk allocation (balance of risk).
• Delivery/publication format.?The focus of this project is updating the content. SA will separately consider the delivery/publication once we have updated AS 4000 and AS 4902.
• Abridged copyright issues. SA is addressing this separately in the market.

ACIF Survey on Professional Indemnity Insurance

The closing date for the ACIF survey on professional indemnity insurance has been extended to the end of December.?The link to the survey is here.

SoCLA National Conference?

We would like to?take?this opportunity to?invite?you to become a sponsor for our upcoming 2022 SoCLA National Conference.?The Sponsorship Prospectus?is available to download here.?

We are pleased to announce the opening of the?Supplemental?Call for Abstracts for the SoCLA National Conference 2022, to be held in Hobart from 10-12 March 2022.

The Call for Abstracts - Rules can be found?here.

Abstracts?must be submitted online?here.

Key Dates:

• Abstracts are to be received by 31 January 2022
• Notification of acceptance of abstracts will be issued by 11 February 2022
• Speakers to register and pay by 18 February 2022
• Final Papers are to be received by 4 March 2022

New SoCLA website resources

The video?from Session 5?of the SoCLA micro conference held on 15 October 2021 featuring?Tom French,?Candice Lamb,?Matt Blycha and?Mayuran Sivapalan?is now available from the Resources section of our website.

Laina Chan, Chair

Society of Construction Law Australia

20 December 2021