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Update on revision of NZS 3910:2003 Conditions of contract for building and engineering construction

Standards New Zealand advised in February 2012 that a revision of NZS 3910 Conditions of contract for building and engineering construction is underway. NZS 3910 is the most widely used standard form of contract conditions in New Zealand. It provides a standard form of general conditions of contract that can be adapted to incorporate into construction contract documents.

In mid-September 2012, Standards New Zealand issued a draft edition of the revised NZS 3910 and invited comment from the public for a period of 2 months. The notifications to the stakeholders that Standards New Zealand and the committee undertook resulted in over 1000 public comments. This indicated to us that many users of the Standard want to ensure the Standard reflects current practice, thereby reducing the need for special conditions.

Standards New Zealand collated the comments for the committee to discuss and make decisions on. Two subjects that attracted a lot of comment were the insurance clauses and contractors' and principals' bonds clauses.

At the committee meeting to review comments received from the public held in late November 2012, an agreed a course of action was set for each comment.

The volume of comments has meant that the committee required further time to give them a fair and appropriate amount of consideration. The additional time to review the large response from public and the additional preparation of the two new Standards will mean the original publication date of March 2013 will now be mid-2013.

Based on feedback from the sector, three Standards will be published in place of one. This will reduce the amount of special provisions needed for two common applications where NZS 3910 would often be used. The three Standards will be:
• NZS 3910 Conditions of Contract for Building and Civil engineering – Construction
• NZS 3916 Conditions of Contract for Building and Civil engineering – Design and Construction
• NZS 3917 Conditions of Contract for Building and Civil engineering – Term maintenance.
Related article
• Revision of NZS 3910:2003 – Conditions of contract for building and civil engineering construction, Touchstone, February 2012

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About Standards New Zealand

Standards New Zealand is the operating arm of the Standards Council, and part of New Zealand’s standards and conformance infrastructure. Standards New Zealand is an autonomous Crown entity responsible for managing the development and distribution of Standards across a range of sectors nationally.

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