Construction Contracts Act 2013

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Interpretation.

1.— (1) In this Act—

“construction contract” means (subject to subsection (2) and section 2 ) an agreement (whether or not in writing) between an executing party and another party, where the executing party is engaged for any one or more of the following activities:

(a) carrying out construction operations by the executing party;

(b) arranging for the carrying out of construction operations by one or more other persons, whether under subcontract to the executing party or otherwise;

(c) providing the executing party’s own labour, or the labour of others, for the carrying out of construction operations;

“construction operations” means, subject to subsections (3) and (4), any activity associated with construction, including operations of any one or more of the following descriptions:

(a) construction, alteration, repair, maintenance, extension, demolition or dismantling of buildings, or structuresforming, or to form, part of the land (whether permanent or not);

(b) construction, alteration, repair, maintenance, extension, demolition or dismantling of works forming, or to form, part of the land, including (without prejudice to the foregoing) walls, roadworks, power-lines, telecommunications apparatus, aircraft runways, docks and harbours, railways, inland waterways, pipe-lines, reservoirs, water-mains, wells, sewers, industrial plant and installations for purposes of land drainage, coast protection or defence;

(c) installation in any building or structure of fittings forming part of the land, including (without prejudice to the foregoing) systems of heating, lighting, air-conditioning, thermal insulation, ventilation, power supply, drainage, sanitation, water supply or fire protection, or security or communications systems;

(d) external or internal cleaning of buildings and structures, so far as carried out in the course of their construction, alteration, repair, extension or restoration;

(e) operations which form an integral part of, or are preparatory to, or are for rendering complete, such operations as are previously described in this subsection, including site clearance, earth-moving, excavation, tunnelling andboring, laying of foundations, erection, maintenance or dismantling of scaffolding, site restoration, landscaping and the provision of roadways and other access works and traffic management;

(f) painting or decorating the internal or external surfaces of any building or structure;

(g) making, installing or repairing sculptures, murals and other artistic works that are attached to real property;

“executing party”, in relation to a construction contract, means—

(a) where the parties to the construction contract are a contractor and the person for whom the contractor is doing work under the contract, the contractor, or

(b) where the parties to the construction contract are a contractor and a subcontractor or are 2 subcontractors, the subcontractor or whichever of the subcontractors agrees to execute work under the contract;

“main contract” means a construction contract such as is referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of “executing party”;

“Minister” means the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform;

“other party”, in relation to a construction contract, means the party to the construction contract who is not the executing party;

“payment claim” means a claim to be paid an amount under a construction contract;

“payment claim date”, in relation to a construction contract, means the date when a payment claim in relation to an amount due under the construction contract is required to be made;

“payment claim notice” has the meaning assigned to it by section 4 ;

“payment dispute” has the meaning assigned to it by section 6 ;

“subcontract” means a construction contract such as is referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of “executing party”;

“subcontractor” means a person to whom the execution of work under a construction contract is subcontracted by the contractor or another subcontractor;

“work”, in relation to a construction contract, means any act done in furtherance of the construction contract under the terms of the construction contract.

(2) In this Act references to a construction contract include an agreement, in relation to construction operations, to do work or provide services ancillary to the construction contract such as—

(a) architectural, design, archaeological or surveying work,

(b) engineering or project management services, or

(c) advice on building, engineering, interior or exterior decoration or on the laying-out of landscape.

(3) Subject to subsection (4) references in this Act to construction operations do not include the manufacture or delivery to a construction site of—

(a) building or engineering components or equipment,

(b) materials, plant or machinery, or

(c) components for systems of heating, lighting, air-conditioning, ventilation, power supply, drainage, sanitation, water supply or fire protection, or for security or communications systems.

(4) In this Act references to construction operations do include a case where the things referred to in subsection (3) are supplied under a contract which also provides for their installation.