Bring on the accolades

Here is a first. The Chartered Institute of Building has chosen an “Author of the Year”. I will tell you who it is in a moment. First, let me blow a trumpet for all those UK Construction people who slave away to produce textbooks, guidebooks, papers and learned works to help us understand contractual rules, laws and regulations that go hand-in-hand with actually building something. You can’t put a shovel in the ground nowadays without having a 100-page JCT contract and a referee breathing down the groundworker’s neck. And, since it doesn’t look as though we can get rid of all the gobbledegook, it might be best to knuckle down and fathom what the rules actually want. Thank goodness for all those willing to explain.

I don’t think any other part of the world has produced or does produce so many books to help you, as does the UK. And, hardly do you see a bum book. The writers come from across the whole industry . . . engineers, architects,

builders, surveyors, lecturers, lawyers. And the readers are from the whole industry too, including those students of today who are the leaders of tomorrow.

The CIOB invited a group of us to form a panel to choose the best law publications and arrange the first ever literary awards do. We got Paul Burden, the television announcer to do the talking and best-selling novelist Jeffrey Archer to present the prizes. There were three categories: best authoritative work, best reference book and best textbook. Plus, there was an overall winner, which was Construction Health & Safety by

Ron Akass, Fred Osliff, Kevin Greene, Andrew Vickery and Henry Martin, published by Tolley.

This Tolley publication is one of those loose-leaf compendium contraptions, which I have to admit irritate the life out of me. So, in making this a winner that personal dislike had to be put aside. The content of this five-author work is the best exposition of a difficult area of everyday construction that I have encountered. My job is frequently to dig out contractors or even the odd joinery manufacturer that find themselves on the thick end of criticism from the Health and Safety Executive. The Tolley volume is just the ticket. Three consultants from construction, plus two lawyers have made the entire topic easy to follow, and accurate advice is delivered, thank heaven, in plain English. The joy of the book is that you can find things. I guess that frequent use will make it a working tool on a continuing basis.

Since we can’t get rid of the gobbledegook, it might be best to knuckle down and fathom what the rules actually want

This is not only the best of the best in the literary awards, but is the best of the lot on health and safety. Ah, but wait a mo. There is a fault . . . something missing; there is no CD-ROM. Come on Tolley, please, publish your encyclopedia with a CD, because we are all busy people for whom time is money. True, your book is well indexed and usefully subdivided but the world has moved on. The CD idea gives an instant search tool and can be carried in the brief case, instead of lugging those awful loose-leaf gizmos.

Not only was this the overall winner, but it was the winner of the best authoritative work. The judges in this section were Victoria Russell and John Riches. Just a smidgen behind in second place was another super work – Keith Pickavance’s Delay and Disruption in Construction Contracts, published by LLP. This highly experienced expert, architect and arbitrator has brought all his considerable experience into one volume. Don’t bring a delay and disruption claim until you read this fellow.

The best reference category was chosen by Ann Glacki and Alan Houghton. It was won by James Cameron Blackhall for his Planning Law and Practice, published by Cavendish. The author is a town planner, landscape architect and senior lecturer on the topic. Blackhall’s gift is his use of plain English. He writes attractively and his literary prize is well deserved. The judges put him narrowly ahead of a superb book by John Riches and Chris Dancaster entitled Construction Adjudication, from LLP.

Ostensibly for students, but actually to be read by everyone, is the best textbook category. Judges Lois Cole-Wilson, Jim Hurst and Adrian Kearney chose David Chappel’s Understanding JCT Standard Form Building Contracts 5th Edition, published by Spon. Chappel started out as an architect, became a contracts administrator for a contractor, then lecturer, and has written more than 20 books. He is, I admit, one of my favourites because he keeps it simple.