The Designer's Duty - Time For Review.
Mondaq Business Briefing › Nbr. 2009, January 2009
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The Designer's Duty - Time For Review.
Introduction
To understand their risk exposure fully, architects, engineers and other construction professionals engaged in design work need to know the extent of their design liability. 'Extent' for these purposes means two things: what they are obliged to do, and for how long that obligation continues. By its very nature, design is not a static concept. The notion of design development is well-understood. Sometimes, the need to alter the design exceeds mere development and involves a reappraisal of aspects of the original design concept. On an ongoing project, a variety of matters can occur which require reconsideration of the original design. Sometimes these events can occur after completion. This paper is concerned with the extent of the duty to revisit or review the original design and seeks to examine the following questions in the light of recent developments in case law: What does the duty to review a design comprise? How long does the duty to review a design last? What are the legal consequences of breach of the duty to review a design in the sense of damages claimable? For simplicity, the notional designer selected in this paper is the architect, though the same considerations apply equally to engineers and other construction professionals undertaking design. 1. What Does The Duty To Review A Design Comprise? It has long been established that an architect has a duty to review his design. The writer has previously analysed the cases which established this principle.1 The Court of Appeal in Brickfield Properties v Newton held that, 'The architect is under a continuing duty to check that his design will work in practice and to correct any errors which may emerge.'2 This principle has been applied in a number of well known constru...See the full content of this document
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