Course syllabus

Course-PM

TEK141 Construction Contract Relationships

(Preliminary programme)

MSc Course TEK141, 7.5 he credits

Team

Examiner and teacher: Martine Buser associate professor, ACE, buser@chalmers.se

Teachers

Antoine Manes, PhD student Aarhus University manes@btech.au.dk

Anna Almroth and Annakarin Skogsberg, lawyers, MAQS

Anna Kadefors, Professor, KTH, anna.kadefors@chalmers.se

Daniella Troje, PhD, KTH, troje@kth.se

Kim Jacobsen, PhD, consultant kj@k-jacobsen.dk

Linda Sandström, Västfastigheter

Mats Karlsson, Trafikverket, Professor of the practice at the division of structural engineering ACE, mats.d.karlsson@trafikverket.se

Stefan Gottlieb, Senior Researcher, BUILD, Aalborg University, Copenhagen.

Course purpose

Aim

The contract is probably the most fundamental institution of private law. A contract is a legally binding agreement between two or more parties that defines the conditions surrounding the exchange of goods and services. Construction projects are carried out in collaboration between several firms and other organizations. Because of interdependencies and needs for information exchange between the parties, managing the inter-organizational relationships requires attention to both risks and responsibilities as defined in the formal contract, and also to softer relational and ethical issues. The aim of this course is to provide students with the knowledge to understand the role of contracts in project work in the construction industry. The course will moreover provide students with knowledge on formal as well as informal bases of social order in construction - whether contractually defined or not. Finally, course will introduce the students to issues related to procurement and legislation as these interact with contract and influence the successful management of contractual relationships in construction.

Schedule

Timeedit

	Dates	Type of session	Teachers
Formal aspects of contracts
1	Tuesday 2/11   09.00-11.45 SB-H6
		Lecture 1 Introduction to the course What is a contract	Martine Stefan
2	Wednesday 3/11   09.00-11.45. SB-H3
		Lecture 2 Procurement routes/ strategies Contract, payment principles and tendering	Mats
3	Thursday 4/11   13.15-17.00 SB-M500
		Literature seminar Presentation of the group assignment	Martine
4	Tuesday 9/11   09.00-11.45 onsite SB-H7
		Lecture 3 Legal framework	Anna A. and Annakarin S.
5	Wednesday 10/11   09.00-11.45 SB-H3 lecturer online
		Lecture 4 Contract economy transaction costs	Stefan
6	Thursday 11/11   08.30-10.45 SB-multisal
		Contract workshop 1	Anna  K.
Contracts in practice
7	Friday 12/11   09.00-11.45 SB-H6
		Lecture 5 Public -private procurements	Mats
	Tuesday 16/11 VARM
8	Thursday 18/11   09.00-11.45 SB-H6
		Test on the vocabulary and principles Contract forms workshop 2	Linda Martine
9	Friday 19/11.  09.00-11.45 SB-H6
		Lecture 6 Managing the construction and sub-contractors’ relationships	Antoine Martine
10	Tuesday 23/11   09.00-11.45 SB-H5
		Lecture 7 Closing the contract Handling of Change requests Handling of Non conformances	Mats
11	Thursday 25/11
		Supervision 1	Antoine Daniella Kim Linda Martine
12	Tuesday 30/11  Onsite SB-H6 am; SB-H3 pm
	09.00-11.45	Lecture 8 ICT and BIM contract	Kim
13	13.15-16.00	Workshop 3 ICT and BIM contract workshop	Kim
13	Thursday 02/12   09.00-11.45 SB-H6, lecturer online
		Lecture 9 Collaboration and trust	Stefan
New developments on contracts
14	Tuesday 07/12  SB-H6 09.00-11.45
		Lecture 10 Sustainable procurement	Daniella
15	Wednesday 7/8 12 to be decided with your supervisor
		Supervision 2	Antoine Daniella Kim Linda Martine
16	Thursday 9/12 09.00-11.45 HA4
	09.00-11.45	Lecture 11 Claims and disputes Feedback on assignments	Mats Martine
17	Tuesday 14/12 08.15-12.30 SB-L200 / SB-L216
		Presentation 30 minutes per group	Antoine Daniella Kim Linda Martine
January 14 2022		Deadline to upload group and individual assignments

Mandatory events

• Literature seminar 4/11 between 13.15-17.00
• Contract workshop 11/11 between 9.00-11.45
• Exams 18/11 between 09.00-10.00
• Contract forms workshop 18/11 10.00-11.45
• ICT and BIM contract workshop 30/11 13.15-16.00
• Paper presentation 14/12 09.00-12.30

Course literature

• The literature will be provided during the course with 10-15 main articles.
• Course literature also includes handouts from lectures (including slides).
• AB 04. General Conditions of Contract for Building and Civil Engineering Works and Building Services
• Selected readings for the group assignment.

Course design

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

Knowledge

• Understand what a contract is in different theoretical perspectives
• Understand basic principles of general contract law
• Identify and describe aspects of public regulations, including principles for sustainable procurement

Skills

• Describe and analyze differences between legal systems, traditions and phases
• Apply knowledge on contract law in an analysis of cases
• Analyze and compare formal and informal basis of relationships in construction
• Analyze activities to support trust, cooperation and innovation in project relationships

Competences

• Evaluate contractual and procurement arrangements suitable for a specific project
• Define, formulate and solve contractual issues through process-based pedagogy
• Critically reflect on the role of contracts in construction (project) relationships

Content

• Organization of the construction industry: types of firms and roles.
• The nature of contracts.
• Principles of construction law, standard contracts and their roles.
• Formal and informal bases of social order.
• Regulation and quasi-regulation.
• Transactional and relational contracting.
• Transaction costs.
• Procurement principles, including award criteria, risk allocation in contracts, public procurement, EU directives, sustainability.
• Partnerships, partnering and collaboration: types, systems, second-order contracts, trust and communication.

Organisation

The course includes the following learning activities:

• 11 lectures
• 3 workshops
• 1 literature seminar
• 2 supervision sessions
• 1-day presentation
• 1 test online

Study plan

Examination form

The grading of TEK 141 is composed of three elements

1. Online exams on vocabulary and concept 20 % of the total grade
2. Individual assignment a summary of 5 lectures 30% of the total grade
3. Written assignment and presentation in group 50% of the total grade

Active participation in seminars and workshops can affect the final grading.

 

1. Online test mandatory event Thursday 18/11

A multiple choice questionnaire, with a few open questions

 

2. Individual assignment

The individual assignment consists of summaries of 5 out of the 11 lectures of the course.

• Summary of around 600-800 words per lecture.
• 3 parts, of approximately the same length.
  1. A recap of the key concepts and theories presented during the session
  2. A description of 1-2 issues that made you react during the class and why
  3. Key issue/message that you will take with you from the lecture and why.

All 5 lecture summaries should be compiled into one document

This assignment is graded 5, 4, 3 or fail and constitutes 30 % of the final grade

Hand-in: 14 January, 2022. Word file. With each summary starting on a new page and title and date of lecture clearly stated.

Call the file TEK141+lectures+your name, remember your name on the document and upload on Canvas

 

3. Project assignment

- Process

The project assignment builds on a literature study and an interview study. The assignment is carried out in groups of 4-5 students. The group will be formed by the teachers and announced at the project assignment introduction on, when the teams also start the topic selection process. Selection of topic needs to be done no later than 15.00 on 13 November. A list of topics will be presented on Canvas in relation to the project assignment introduction. The purpose of the literature study is to provide a deeper theoretical understanding of a topic related to the course. In this assignment, you will search for literature sources on a specific topic. These can be books, articles and web pages. Thus, you will train skills in searching for information  and writing academic texts with formally correct references.

A minimum of 8 different academic references should be used.

Use the Harvard model for references (see ACE120).

The purpose of the interview study is that students should develop a deeper understanding of practitioners’ perspectives on contracts and relationships in construction projects. The group is responsible for finding 1-3 interviewees and organizing the interviews. The interviews will have two parts. One with general interview  questions that concern the interviewees’ perceptions, preferences and experiences of various procurement routes and contracts (traditional, design-build, partnering, management, etc.), and one part that focuses on the topic chosen for the project assignment.

For the first part a general guideline will be provided on Canvas and adapted by  each group to fit the interviewees’ organizational belonging. The second part of the interviews each group will develop depending on chosen topic.

- Supervision

The group will be assigned a supervisor after the selection of topic. Each supervisor will make separate arrangements for her/his groups. Two supervision sessions are organised. Dates for each session are recommended in the schedule above, but arrangements are made with each individual supervisor and can be held outside of these dates if better suited for the groups and supervisor. General questions and advice, for example concerning topic choice, will be handled in connection with lectures and/or by email.

- Compulsory presentation and opposition

Oral presentation (compulsory). 14 December Please be on time for the presentation since the schedule is tight.

Opposition (compulsory): Before the presentation (deadline 23.55 on 12 December) you submit a first draft of your assignment paper on Canvas to make it available for opponents and teachers. You will oppose on two other works, as main opponent and as second opponent. As opponent group you provide oral feedback and written comments (1-2 pages) to these two other groups. Bring a printed copy of your comments to the presentation/opposition session. The teachers will provide a list of peer groups.

Paper: Groups should upload their finished assignment paper on Canvas not later than 14 January 2022. The paper is checked for plagiarism. The file should be named Group_X project_assignment.

The paper must follow the Paper Template TEK141 provided on Canvas.

The text should be within the range of 3000-4000 words excl. reference list.

The assignment is graded 5, 4, 3 or fail and constitutes 50 % of the final grade

 

Requirements and grading

Examination requirements are:

• an online written exam 20%
• the individual feedback on the course lectures 30%
• completed project assignment, including paper and oral presentation 50%

You must pass the written exam and have attended the mandatory sessions in order to pass the course.