Collateral Warranty Consultant - Client: Switch

The Construction Industry Council (CIC) has published a new Collateral Warranty Consultant – Client: Switch. This new Collateral Warranty is a standard form of agreement for use with the CIC Novation Agreement – Switch, where a warranty is to be given by a consultant to its original client in respect of the services performed after novation to a new client but is not for use where the consultant is novated to the new client on an “ab-initio” basis.

This new warranty completes the suite of CIC standard form collateral warranties, which was steered by the CIC Liability Panel. The Panel undertakes all CIC’s work in the area of contracts, insurance and legal liability issues and is one of CIC’s longest running committees.

Panel Chair, Professor Sarah Lupton, said “This warranty is intended to fill a gap in the current suite. It sometimes happens that a consultant is novated not to a contractor, but to an organisation that has taken over the project from the original client, for example a developer. In such situations, assuming the novation is on a switch basis, the original client may wish for a warranty for services performed after the switch. This new warranty fulfils that role.”

CIC Chief Executive Graham Watts OBE has welcomed this new publication saying, “CIC thanks the Liability Panel for dedicated expertise in producing this latest Collateral Warranty.  This newest publication is an essential addition to our suite of documents and completes an important set of CIC Collateral Warranties for use by the industry and its clients”.