A smart contract is the name given to any attempt to automate contract administration that takes into account events encountered. The smart contract movement has sought to identify contract terms which lend themselves to being wholly or partially automatable. This is known as the stack approach, whereby automated terms sit alongside the traditionally administered rest of the project. Where better to start for automation than with everyone’s favourite talking point – the Great British weather?

The Weather Ledger, a project run by Ehab and funded by the UK government and Digital Catapult, has made an impressive foray into providing smart contracts for the construction industry. Weather event clauses ought to be automatable, particularly under NEC contracts, as these specifically quantify “exceptionally adverse” as once-in-10-years occurrence. We can therefore reduce this frequently contested and complicated procedure to a binary outcome – either it is exceptionally windy/rainy or it is not. This was a good choice for a test-bed for smart contracts.

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