Project Manager Had A Duty To Take Reasonable Skill And Care In Procuring A Signed Construction Contract

The works were completed under a series of letters of intent; consequently the employer did not have the benefit of a liquidated damages clause. The works were delayed and the employer claimed for damages against the contractor. Because it had no formal contract with the contractor the employer settled for a low sum. However, the employer successfully claimed damages against the project manager for the shortfall in what it would have been able to settle for if it had had a formal contract in place.

Significantly the court dis-applied the project manager’s limit on liability using section 3 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.
The project manager had breached its duty to exercise reasonable skill and care in procuring an executed building contract and could not rely on its limit of liability in the particular circumstances of the case.

Case: Ampleforth Abbey Trust v Turner & Townsend Project Management Ltd [2012] EWHC 2137 (TCC) (27 July 2012).