CIC publishes new suite of standard form novation agreements and collateral warranties

The Construction Industry Council (CIC) has announced the publication of a new suite of standard form novation agreements and collateral warranties:

  • Novation Agreement – Ab Initio (first edition)
  • Collateral Warranty Consultant – Funder (second edition)
  • Collateral Warranty Consultant – Purchaser/Tenant (second edition)
  • Collateral Warranty Sub-consultant – Client (first edition)
  • Collateral Warranty Consultant – Employer (third edition)

These industry-standard documents, which may be used by consultants of any discipline, balance the interests of clients and consultants to ensure they are acceptable to all parties.

The novation agreements are for use when a consultant engaged by a building owner or developer is novated to a new client, who may be a design and build contractor, or another developer or other organisation. A ‘Novation Agreement – Switch’ and related collateral warranty will also be published in the near future.

The warranties cover a variety of situations: to the client’s funder, to purchasers or tenants of the development, to a design and build contractor’s employer (whether the consultant has been employed throughout or novated to the contractor) and also to the consultant’s client when acting as sub-consultant.

The production of the suite, which includes two completely new documents, was steered by the CIC Liability Panel. The chair of the panel, Professor Sarah Lupton, said “It was exciting to work with a multi- discipline team, including expert consultants, lawyers and insurers drawn from the liability panel. The novation ab initio agreement is a completely new form, and we hope its introduction will help to standardise arrangements across the industry, and avoid the need for multiple ad-hoc documents. The panel also liaised with the RIBA to ensure compatibility with its new professional service contracts, and is grateful for its support in this venture.”

CIC Chief Executive Graham Watts OBE said of the publication,

“We thank our Liability Panel for the leadership they provided on this important project. We would also like to thank Beale & Company, Cardiff University, Fladgate LLP and Lupton Stellakis for their input into the production of this suite of CIC documents which we believe will be of considerable benefit to the industry.”

The documents are available for purchase from the CIC website.