Professional Negligence in Construction
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CHAPTER 2
Types of construction professional and their functions
Types of construction professional and their functions
- Section A: architects 8
- Origins 8
- Function 8
- Professional regulation 9
- Architects’ contracts 10
- Section B: engineers 12
- Origins 12
- Function 13
- Professional regulation 13
- Engineers’ contracts 14
- Section C: quantity surveyors 15
- Origins 15
- Function 15
- Professional regulation 17
- Quantity surveyors’ contracts 17
- Section D: project managers 18
- Origins 18
- Function 19
- Professional regulation 20
- Project managers’ contracts 20
- Section E: building surveyors 21
- Origins 21
- Function 21
- Professional regulation 21
- Building surveyors’ contracts 22
- Section F: other construction professionals 22
- Section G: a typical construction project 23
- Year 1: preliminary works 23
- Year 3: outline scheme design and application for planning permission 23
- Year 4: letting the contract 24
- Year 5: letters of intent, the building contract, novation 24
- Year 5 to year 7: the construction period 25
- Year 7 to year 8: defects liability period 26
- Year 9 and subsequently: dispute resolution 26
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Section A: architects
Origins
2.1 The term “architect” derives from the Latin “architectus”, which in turn derives from the Greek “arkhi” and “tekton”: chief builder. For the ancients (and indeed until the Renaissance) titles such as “architect” and “engineer” were used interchangeably to apply to master builders, often artisans such as masons and carpenters, who had acquired seniority and experience in substantial construction projects such as castles and churches.1 Design skills were learned in apprenticeship and through experience. Arguably it was the increasing availability of cheap paper which permitted the production and repetition of construction drawings which allowed the emergence of modern architecture as an academic discipline.2