This is a small book covering a large topic. In fact, it really aims to cover two topics, as it is widely accepted, and indeed highlighted in this small volume, that delay and delay-related cost should be considered separately.
Dr Haidar and Peter Barnes attempt the near-impossible task of explaining the analysis of delay and disruption in 75 pages, with a further 50 pages of case studies. Furthermore, the authors have ventured into the relevant case law that often influences the drafting and assessment of construction claims. Of course, reported cases are really ‘case studies’ drawn from real-life disputes and are therefore instructive to both lawyers and construction industry professionals alike. The fictitious case studies that occupy the last three chapters of the book have been crafted with considerable care to contain the sort of complexity that inevitably occurs in real circumstances.
Clearly a reference book of this length cannot possibly be comprehensive, but the authors deserve credit for covering the subject matter without obvious omission. For example, the topic of acceleration (about which entire books have been written) is covered in two pages: one page to define the term and a second page of reported cases. However, it takes considerable skill to condense such a topic in a way that it is not misrepresented, and the authors seem to have achieved this.
It follows that this book is recommended as reference material to professionals (architects, project managers, etc.), rather than claim specialists, who are routinely involved in the drafting or analysis of such claims. Those practitioners may, however, want to keep a copy on the shelf to lend, from time to time, to the architect, engineer or project manager who has been delegated the duty of administering contracts that have suffered delay and disruption. These are the professionals who, traditionally, undertake the assessment of claims on behalf of the employer or client but who, ironically, have no professional training to equip them for this responsibility. Delay and Disruption Claims in Construction would be an ideal primer for these ‘officers’.
