Cases - Peninsula Balmain Pty v Abigroup Contractors Ltd

Record details

Name

Peninsula Balmain Pty v Abigroup Contractors Ltd

Date

(2002)

Citation

BCL 322 (NSWCA)

Keywords

Construction claim - time for completion - extension of time - delay - notification of delay - condition precedent - condition precedent to extension of time - liquidated damages

Summary

The defendants in this Australian case in the New South Wales Court of Appeal were contractors engaged to convert former industrial premises into flats. Practical completion was extended by the superintendent (contract administrator) to 26 April 1999; no other extension was sought or grounded. The contract was terminated in December 1999.

The extension of time provision of the contract required the contractor, upon becoming aware of a delay event, to promptly notify the superintendent in writing of the same, and in so doing to include details of the cause and duration of the delay. The Court held that this clause was a condition precedent to the award of an extension of time, and if it was not complied with, the contractor could not rely on the 'prevention' principle to resist a claim for liquidated damages for late completion. Hodgson JA went on, albeit obiter, to suggest that a late claim for an extension might fail on the grounds that too much time had elapsed to allow a contract administrator to fairly assess the merits of the same (although this was not the case here).