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Construction Law

Womble Carlyle Constrution Industry Blog

Womble Carlyle Construction Law team follows construction industry.

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Last Entry: July 20, 2009 at 16:17:00

19 Awards for Campus Architecture, Buildings, Plans and Landscapes

Posted on June 12, 2008
The Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) and the Committee on Architecture for Education of the American Institute of Architects (AIA-CAE) have announced 19 awards in the areas of architecture, campus planning and landscape architecture...

Dim on BIM?

Posted on June 06, 2008
Sure the future of Building Information modeling (BIM) is bright, but the path to that future has a temporary dim - based on complaints from folks in the construction industry.A recent survey of structural engineers reveals a sunny forecast - 74% of respondents think they will have to use BIM to meet their client needs in less than 12 months...

Elon University joins growing list of "greening" campuses

Posted on May 30, 2008
On May 21, Elon University, located in Elon, North Carolina, broke ground on Lindner Hall, planned to be the "greenest" facility on campus. The 30,000-square-foot building will house administrative offices and various academic departments and include high-tech classrooms, a computer lab, faculty offices and space for student-faculty mentoring...

Full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms Lower Court's Holding in Garcia v. Brockway

Posted on May 16, 2008
In a case that is being closely watched in the multi-family housing industry, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this week released its opinion affirming the lower court's holding that the 2-year statute of limitations for a private civil action alleging violation of the Fair Housing Act's accessibility requirements for design and construction is triggered, i...

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"What is a BIM?"

Posted on May 14, 2008
This question is the first FAQ on the website of the Facility Information Council (FIC) describing the FIC's initiative to develop a National BIM Standard. I was intrigued because I usually hear the question asked as "What is BIM", not "What is a BIM?"The FIC's definition of "a BIM" is elegant...

Digging Up Bones: New Provisions in the AIA A201 Impose New Obligations on Contractors

Posted on May 13, 2008
Recently, neighbors of mine decided to sell the family farm that has been in their family for almost 200 years. We know that the property has been in the family for this long based on the family cemetery plot located on the last bit of acreage that has not been subsumed by the surrounding neighborhoods that have swallowed what was originally about 100 acres of farmland...

Campus Construction Not Hit by Sluggish Economy

Posted on May 06, 2008
Despite a slow economy, one sector where construction is not being postponed is on college campuses. According to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, some universities are even trying to speed up projects to limit the damage done by rising construction costs...

NC Supreme Court Questions Lien Law Heirarchy

Posted on April 30, 2008
In Carolina Building Services' Windows & Doors, Inc. v. Boardwalk, LLC, ___ N.C. ___, ___ S.E.2d ___ (April 11, 2008), the Supreme Court of North Carolina threw into question "the lien law hierarchy" created by North Carolina General Statutes 44A-7 through 24 and held that a default judgment in favor of an owner of real property against its general contractor cannot form the basis for extinguishing a subcontractor's lien on such real property...

Professional Liability Insurance for BIM

Posted on April 24, 2008
In working on an architectural services agreement recently, I struggled with how to address professional liability for the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM). Its anticipated use on the project is by the Architect and its consultants, with potential input from a construction manager...

Fair Housing Act Accessibility: Examples of Covered Multi-Family Dwellings

Posted on April 17, 2008
As litigation over Fair Housing Act (FHA) design and construction accessibility requirements continues to increase around the country, we are getting more and more questions about what kinds of multi-family housing are, in fact, subject to these requirements...

Getting More Green by Going Green: New Study Finds Strong Economic Case for Developing Green Buildings

Posted on April 09, 2008
In recent weeks, there have been a number of news articles published on the growing trend among owners, developers and contractors in the area of "green" building and "sustainable development". Until recently, most buildings that obtained LEED certification were mostly found in the areas of higher education and government according to the U...

Choosing an Insurer for Builder's Risk

Posted on April 06, 2008
In assisting a client evaluate alternative proposals for providing builder's risk coverage recently, I prepared a sort of "checklist" of issues to be considered when comparing the policy forms of two different insurers (builder's risk policy forms are not standard, thus each insurer's policy form needs to be reviewed and evaluated)...

Full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to Hear Fair Housing Accessibility Case on March 25, 2008

Posted on April 04, 2008
Some time ago, we reported on the Garcia v. Brockway case (503 F.3d 1092 (9th Cir.2007), an important fair housing accessibility lawsuit. At issue is when the two-year statute of limitations for actions alleging defective design and/or construction under the Fair Housing Act begins to run --- when construction is completed, or when the alleged violation is discovered...

National Green Building Standard Almost Ready

Posted on March 25, 2008
In a previous posting we discussed the new green building standard being developed jointly by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the International Code Council (ICC) and the NAHB Research Center. The new standard is intended to be seamlessly incorporated into existing building codes, thereby providing a code-based standard for jurisdictions considering mandatory green building requirements...

"Free lancing" procurement for campus construction projects may lead to criminal investigation in Maryland

Posted on March 05, 2008
State legislators in Maryland have been grilling Morgan State University officials after an audit brought the university's method of construction spending into question. As reported in the Baltimore Sun and in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the legislative audit revealed that Morgan State, which is not part of the University of Maryland system but receives state funding, "had padded a $4...

Homebuilders Association?s New Green Building Program: Blue Skies Ahead?

Posted on February 28, 2008
In a February 20, 2008, article, Engineering News-Record reports that the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is working with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to introduce a new voluntary and flexible green building program that will apply to both new home construction and remodeling projects...

ABA Forum Meets in New York to Discuss New 2007 AIA Contract Documents

Posted on February 19, 2008
On January 31, 2008, the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry (the "Forum") met in New York City to discuss the new 2007 American Institute of Architects ("AIA") Contract Documents. In a widely attended program with close to 1000 attendees present to enjoy the Forum's Midwinter Meeting entitled "The 2007 AIA Documents: New Forms, New Issues, New Strategies", members of the Forum spent the day parsing and dissecting the the 2007 changes to the AIA Contract Documents published by the AIA in November, 2007...

Collaborative Project Delivery

Posted on February 10, 2008
One of the new ConsensusDOCS contract forms is entitled "Standard Form of Tri-Party Agreement for Collaborative Project Delivery" (ConsensusDOCS 300). The tri-party, as one would expect, consists of the Owner, the Designer, and the Constructor. The contract form incorporates many concepts that are foreign, and probably antithetical, to traditional project delivery methods...

For Sale: Reclaimed Wastewater

Posted on February 06, 2008
It is not a news flash that there has been a drought in North Carolina and many other regions in the country. Construction companies use a great deal of water, so the drought conditions and water restrictions have been a challenge to many contractors working in drought areas...

Landmark Supreme Court Decision Could Expose Businesses To N.C. Consumer Class Actions And More

Posted on February 04, 2008
In a landmark decision by a divided court, the Supreme Court of North Carolina declared an arbitration clause in a consumer loan agreement unconscionable. The case, Tillman et al v. Commercial Credit Loans, Inc. et al, is important to all businesses contracting with N...

Architecture and the University: Inventing Something Bold and Reinventing the Old

Posted on January 29, 2008
Separate items reported on January 28 in The Chronicle of Higher Education reflect the range of architectural and construction opportunities on today's college campus. At a recent Yale University symposium entitled ?Building the Future: the University as Architectural Patron,? speakers promoted innovation and advocated that a campus should consider its physical place in the broader community with ?lively, informed discourse about architecture and its role...

Can a Letter of Credit Substitute for a Performance and Payment Bond?

Posted on January 16, 2008
An owner was confronted recently with a circumstance in which a contractor that the owner really wanted to use was unable to obtain a bond for the project. The contractor was a small company, but had successfully built other projects for the owner. This project, however, would be the largest ever undertaken by the contractor, and was beyond the contractor's bonding capacity...

Window Washer Defies Laws ? Of Gravity and Nature

Posted on January 14, 2008
In case you haven?t heard around the water cooler, a window washer fell off a 47 story New York skyscraper and lived. Sure he was hurt ? some injuries to his brain, spinal column, ribs, abdomen and multiple broken bones in his arm and both legs, but doctors report a miraculous recovery...

North Carolina General Assembly Strives for Efficiency in 2007

Posted on December 21, 2007
As we reflect on the legislation enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly that impacts the construction industry in 2007, the goal of the General Assembly for 2007 can be summarized in a single word: efficiency. The need for energy efficient buildings, efficient cost practices, and efficient review of construction plans that will allow outdated buildings to be renovated and many needed new public buildings to be built more rapidly appears to be the primary objective for 2007...

AIA Study: Green Wave

Posted on December 13, 2007
According to an article recently published in AIArchitect for the week of December 7, 2007, the American Institute of Architects recently completed a study of current green building laws and the effectiveness of green building programs in American cities with a population of more than 50,000...

Changes to the AIA Owner-Architect Agreement

Posted on December 11, 2007
In November of 2007, the American Institute of Architects ("AIA") released significant revisions to many of its standard form design and construction agreements. The AIA?s Standard Form of Agreement between Owner and Architect (AIA?s B101-2007) varies greatly from its 1997 predecessors (AIA B141 and B151)...

Furman University's "Center for Sustainability" - a "green" house stylish enough for Southern Living

Posted on December 05, 2007
Growing interest in sustainable housing and energy-conscious construction is reflected on the campus of Furman University, which is in the midst of building Cliffs Cottage, to be featured in Southern Living magazine next year. As reported in the Buildings & Grounds blog of The Chronicle of Higher Education"The house will be a showcase green design and construction methods, and it will be certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program...

2007 AIA A201 General Conditions of the Contract for Construction: Proceed with Caution

Posted on December 04, 2007
On November 8, 2007, The American Institute of Architects ("AIA"), released its decennial revisions of the AIA family of documents. For those who may be thinking they will simply insert these brand new documents in future contract negotiations, you may do so at your peril...

Green Building is killing birds at Emory University

Posted on December 03, 2007
Reflective glass on the Mathematics and Science building at Emory University is so attractive that dozens of birds confuse the view, smashing into the panes during migratory season. The problem is not unique to Emory, however. "Turns out, environmentally friendly buildings are often bird killers...

Too much celebrating?

Posted on November 14, 2007
Alleging serious design and construction defects in its Stata Center, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology just sued two heavyweights: Frank Gehry's firm, Gehry Partners, based in L.A., and Skanska. The Stata Center opened to much acclaim in 2004, when Mr...

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