NEC was last fully reviewed in 2005, and in the intervening 12 years, the producers have been gathering user feedback, leading to the 2017 launch of the NEC4 suite which has been updated and extended.
A number of changes were made to NEC4, with the intention of streamlining terms and operation across the whole suite. These include amendments to terminology, as well as provisions concerning programming, early warning, information modelling, early contractor involvement, disputes, financial agreement and collaboration, as well as improvement to processes of communication and dispute avoidance and resolution.
Full details of the major changes in the NEC4 works contracts are available on the NEC website.
What is NBS doing?
Because the publishers continue to support NEC3, this means that the previous versions are not superseded. Accordingly, we will be introducing new sets of Preliminaries and Project Management Sections to reflect the new Contracts in our Specification tools.
Sections for use with the NEC Engineering and Construction Contract are included in NBS Building Standard library
Sections for the Engineering and Construction Short contract are available in NBS Building Minor Works library, NBS Landscape and NBS Scheduler.
Project Management sections for these contracts are also included in NBS Create Architecture and Structure.
Timescale
We have updated the preliminaries within NBS specification products to include Sections for NEC 4 - coordinating this activity as best we can with NECs publishing programme. Updates to NBS Building, NBS Landscape, NBS Binders, NBS Scheduler and NBS Create have all been issued to reflect the new NEC4 content g
NEC have included two new contracts in the NEC4 suite: an alliancing contract and a design build and operate contract. We'd welcome your thoughts on any requirement you may already have to work with these contracts on future specification projects - just email info@theNBS.com with your comments. Your input will help prioritise work to include these contracts within NBS products.
JCT began issuing 2016 versions of their contracts in June of that year. NBS Preliminaries/ Project Management sets have a programme of updating to reflect the changes. Details are available here.
Useful websites
NEC - NEC4 suite of contracts
Details of the new NEC4 contracts suite.
NEC - Whitepaper: NEC4 -The next generation - An explanation of changes and benefits
This paper provides users with an explanation of some of the changes made to NEC3 contracts and the new NEC4 contracts that have been created. It explains why they have been introduced and what the benefits are for users. It explains the changes across the full suite of contracts.
NEC - Webinar: Revealing NEC4
This webinar is a first introduction to the new suite of contracts: it answers the why and how NEC4 was developed, and it guides NEC users through the new suite.
