Window analysis as a mechanism to avoid or pursue a delay claim in construction
- by Steven Ellison
- •
- 22 Jan, 2019
The best approach for a contractor in avoiding a claim or demonstrating a delay is to simply keep clear records of any issues or events as they develop. Site diaries, timesheets or photographs may all be important evidence of a contractor’s entitlement to loss and expense.
The Society of Construction Law's Delay and Disruption Protocol at Paragraph 17.1 of the second edition reinforces the need for accurate records. If accurate and complete records are maintained, the causal link between an employer risk event and the resultant loss suffered should be able to be established, without the need to make a global claim.
Window analysis can then be used to identify the project critical path by dividing the project into useful time slices or windows of typically monthly periods. Time impact analysis can update the planned programme and then ‘impact’ it with any delay events, ideally evidenced by contemporaneous records. Delay analysis can then be applied to each time slice to determine the cause of the delays and highlight any concurrency.
Utilising time windows helps delay analysis especially on large or complex projects. This can help in the determination of a dispute by identifying and explaining the impact of any delays. Each time slice identifies the planned practical completion date at the start and end of the period, along with the actual critical path. The analysis highlights any critical delay or acceleration during the time slice. Whilst the windows together chart the project from start to finish on a "real time" basis.
When determining a dispute, the courts will seek wherever possible to reject the concept of theoretical delay and seek evidence of specific events which result in delay. Window analysis provides a technique for organising and analysing project delays. This allows a party to successfully present detailed information in a coherent and evidenced claim, satisfying the requirements of a successful concurrent delay claim and where appropriate potentially avoiding the need for a global claim.
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