Cases - Costain Building and Civil Engineering v Scottish Rugby Union

Record details

Name

Costain Building and Civil Engineering v Scottish Rugby Union

Date

(1993)

Citation

SC 650

Keywords

Construction contracts - certification - certificate of completion - alleged under-certification - whether certificate condition precedent to right of contractor to be paid - ICE Conditions of Contract (5th ed)

Summary

The claimant was employed by the defendant as main contractor on the ICE Conditions of Contract (5th edition) for the construction of the north and south stands at Murrayfield Stadium. A certificate of completion was issued under clause 48(1) of the contract on 12 January 1993. On 10 May 1993 Costain submitted a loss and expense claim in respect of sums allegedly undercertified. As part of the claim brought, the claimant arrested the sum of £8.1m in an account of the defendant, who then applied to have the arrestment recalled on the ground that it was under no present obligation to pay the sum claimed because the engineer had declined to issue any certificate. On appeal, the Court of Session held that on the true construction of the ICE Conditions of Contract, a certificate of the engineer was a condition precedent to the right of the contractor to be paid.