JCT
JCT — the Joint Contracts Tribunal — publishes the UK\'s most used family of standard building contracts, and by extension names the contracts themselves: JCT SBC, DB, IC, MW and their variants.
Saying a contract is JCT says less than people think. The family spans a full design-balance spectrum — Standard Building Contract with quantities to Minor Works — and the commercial machinery (retention, variations, loss and expense, adjudication) is set by the particular form plus its amendments. Two JCT jobs can behave like different species depending on the schedule of amendments riding on top.
The 2024 edition modernised incrementally: building safety duties reflected, electronic execution clarified, and the payment machinery aligned with current practice. We compare JCT against NEC4 for clients regularly; neither is kinder, they are kind to different parties at different moments.
Related: nec · construction act · liquidated damages