Tender Beef:is An Architect Liable For Losses If Advice At Tender Stage Is Wrong? Asks Douglas Wass

摘要

Angus Dawson, Andy Mather and I have often written about the need for architects to ensure they are engaged on written terms of appointment and that those terms are carefully drafted to reflect the liabilities and risks which they are prepared to take on. However, it is important to remember that there are circumstances in which the law might make architects liable for the losses suffered by a party with whom they have no contractual relationship. One obvious example is where a defective design results in someone suffering personal injury or damage to their property. An important question is whether or not a consultant should have to compensate a party with whom it has no contractual relationship if that party suffers purely financial losses during the course of a project due to the consultant's negligence. For example, architects are often engaged to produce drawings, specifications and other information on which a contractor will base its tender. Most building contracts will not allow the contractor to recover more than the contract sum on the basis that it underpriced the work because the information upon which it based the tender was inaccurate.