THE Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (as amended by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009) (together known informally as the Construction Act) is an important piece of legislation within the construction industry. It is designed to bring fairness and clarity to payment processes and to ensure that adjudication is accessible to those whose contracts are governed by the Construction Act. The act applies to 'construction operations'. Therefore, wherever a contract relates to works or services within this definition, that contract must contain certain clauses which set rights and obligations relating to both payment and adjudication. If the contract does not contain such clauses, default mandatory clauses contained within the act will apply instead. What are construction operations? This term 'constructions operations', which governs whether or not the act will apply, is defined broadly within the act. The definition is deliberately wide in order to include construction, repair and maintenance operations. Construction operations are defined as operations of any of the following descriptions: (a) Construction, alteration, repair, maintenance, extension, demolition or dismantling of buildings, or structures forming, or to form, part of the land (whether permanent or not).
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