A broad church

Citation

Chynoweth, P. (2012), "A broad church", International Journal of Law in the Built Environment, Vol. 4 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijlbe.2012.41104aaa.001

A broad church

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Law in the Built Environment, Volume 4, Issue 1

With this issue the IJLBE enters its fourth year of publication. From the beginning its editorial scope has been unique amongst law journals. It has defined itself, not by reference to the traditional terminology of substantive law textbook subject areas, but in terms of the interaction between the law, as a social entity, and the whole range of human activities affecting the design, construction, management and use of the built environment. Furthermore, as anticipated in the editorial to the first issue, both the range of jurisdictions addressed within the published articles, and the breadth of the methodologies employed, illustrate the enormous diversity that is inherent (or can be) in the reassuringly familiar term, “legal scholarship”.

The articles published in the present issue continue in this tradition. Roussac and Bright’s article on environmental performance in the commercial leasing in Australia goes beyond the familiar discussions of green leases and teases out some of the practical difficulties through the adoption of a case study approach. We stay with the commercial property theme in Hughes and Crosby’s conceptual article on the effectiveness of self-regulation within the field in which they analyze lease codes within the UK and set out a framework for their evaluation. We then move to Turkey, and to the world of empirical socio-legal research, for Ilter’s extensive study into the causes of disputes in construction projects.

Finally, the construction industry also provides the backdrop for the two articles with which we conclude the issue. Marshall tackles the increasingly global phenomenon of statutory adjudication in construction contracts. Taking a black-letter (doctrinal) approach to his subject he analyzes relevant English case law and draws conclusions regarding the courts’ attitude to the enforcement of adjudicators’ awards. Brawn also adopts a black-letter approach in his article which enables him to highlight the complex interaction between the courts’ treatment of the related areas of the award of liquidated damages and the entitlement to extensions of time in construction contracts.

Construction law

These final two articles – both dealing with the construction industry, and both employing a black-letter methodology – highlight an important challenge for the journal as it continues to develop in the future. Despite the breadth of the church which the IJLBE seeks to be, articles of this nature have been comparatively rare in the issues published to date. Somewhat ironically, in the journal’s attempts to emphasize its breadth of legal coverage across the whole panoply of the built environment, it might be that the specialist subject of “construction law” – an increasingly well-developed tradition in its own right – has been inadvertently obscured by the variety of other contributions. This was never the intention and the journal remains committed to publishing high quality legal scholarship within all areas of its broad remit, including that within construction law.

In this context I am pleased to note the special issue of the journal on construction law which appeared as the immediately preceding issue (volume 3, issue 3) and which was guest edited by Brodie McAdam. The content of that issue can be accessed by following the “table of contents” link near the top of the journal’s homepage at: www.emeraldinsight.com/ijlbe.htm. In view of the importance of the construction law subject area within the journal’s broad editorial scope I am also delighted to announce the appointment of two associate editors – Brodie McAdam and Michael Brand – who each have a particular expertise in this field.

Before entering academia Brodie was in practice as a construction solicitor with a top 20 commercial legal practice in the UK. More recently he established the highly successful master’s degree programme at the University of Salford which he continues to lead and is also the joint coordinator of the CIB task group (TG80) on Legal and Regulatory Aspects of Building Information Modelling (BIM). Michael is the founding director of the government-funded Adjudication Research and Reporting Unit (ARRU) at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He has a background in construction management, commercial law and alternative dispute resolution and is the joint coordinator of the CIB task group (TG67) on Statutory Adjudication in Construction.

A personal welcome

After three years of “flying solo” I am pleased to welcome these two new members to the editorial team who have agreed to jointly take on the particular responsibility for developing the journal’s presence within the construction law field. Both are founding members of the journal’s editorial advisory board and have played a particularly active role in this capacity over the first three years of its life. They have also published within the journal and each has been the recipient of an Emerald award for their services to it. They are both very welcome in their new roles and I am looking forward to working with them over the coming years.

Finally, a date for your diaries: Brodie and Michael will be leading a major construction law stream at the next CIB World Congress in Brisbane, Australia between the 5 and 9 May 2013. An initial call for abstracts will be issued shortly after this issue goes to print. In the meantime, information about the event is available on the law stream’s web site at: www.cib2013.com

Paul Chynoweth