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Best Practice: Align the Lease, Architect Agreement, and GC Contract Before Tenant Improvement Risk Shows Up
A lot of tenant improvement risk is set before design starts. The lease gets signed first. The architect comes in later. The general contractor comes in later still. By then, key delivery dates, landlord approval rights, notice requirements, and turnover conditions may already be fixed. If the downstream agreements do not match those upstream obligations,…
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Commentary: Proactive Contract Writing Prevents Construction Problems Before They Become Claims
Over coffee the other morning, I was reading this Lexology article on data centre disputes: “Dispute resolution in data centre projects: Proactive strategies for a high-stakes environment”. It is written from a legal perspective. But the owner-side lesson is broader. Disputes do not usually begin when lawyers get involved. They begin much earlier, when project…
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Industry Watch: Documentation Before Rework Is a Discipline, Not a Legal Tactic
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve walked a site, seen a condition that clearly needed corrective work, and heard a project leader say, “Let’s just fix it and be done.” There’s a natural urge to get a bad condition behind you. I get it — you’re protecting budget, schedule, and reputation. But the…
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Commentary: Construction Procurement Is About Managing Risk, Not Savings
I have seen construction procurement fail for reasons that had nothing to do with delivery.The model was wrong from the start. Too often, construction is treated like indirect spend. Leaders want forecasts of spend, dates, and savings based on historical data, as if the work were recurring. Then when predictions miss, delivery teams are blamed…
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Industry Watch: AI in Construction Disputes Is Only the Beginning
The construction industry rarely moves first with new technology. It waits.It watches.Then it adopts, carefully, and usually late. That’s why a recent announcement from the American Arbitration Association’s International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) deserves attention. Not for what it solves today, but for what it signals next. AI is no longer staying on the…
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Industry Watch: How CCDC 5B-2025 Signals a More Modern and Collaborative Construction Contract
I’ve spent years treating pre-construction as its own phase of work. On many projects, that simple distinction improved clarity, reduced friction, and strengthened owner–contractor relationships. So when I reviewed the 2025 update to CCDC 5B, I recognized familiar territory. Many of the contract revisions reflect practices I’ve used for a long time. They aren’t perfect,…
