The Week That Was - 4 September 2026

Welcome to the week that was, a round-up of key events in the construction sector over the last seven days.

Government plans to tackle unfair practices as part of wider consumer protection review

As part of the longer term plans to overhaul the consumer protection landscape, specific plans have been announced affecting the home improvements sector, aiming to help consumers hire trusted traders.

A code of practice, part of the Approved Code Scheme is being developed by the Furniture and Home Improvement Ombusdman (FHIO) with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) monitoring.  Approved Codes are voluntary and require businesses that follow them to provide access to free dispute resolution.

A new Trusted Payments system is planned, aiming to protect people's money by tying payments to key project milestones via an app which goes live this week.  

Read more on the government announcement. 

Find out more about the Trusted Payments.

Implying good faith terms into agreements with express mutual trust obligations had no real prospects of success - Svella Connect Ltd v Virgin Media Ltd [2026] EWHC 2223 (TCC)

Granting summary judgment in favour of Virgin Media, Pepperall J held that whether the parties' agreement has been fully set out is the first step in considering whether terms should be implied, such as whether such terms would be necessary to the proper working of the contract in a dispute arising from framework agreements between the parties relating to fibre optic data network installation.

Here, Svella alleged that, as its framework agreements and a settlement agreement with Virgin Media were relational contracts based on mutual trust and confidence, this gave rise to implied duties of good faith.  Pepperall J found no gaps in the framework agreements necessitating the implied terms.  Additionally, for the settlement agreement, it was inherently unlikely that duties of good faith would be implied into a carefully negotiated settlement bringing to an end a troubled relationship, which would in effect rewrite the bargain, if implied.

Read the full judgment in Svella Connect Ltd v Virgin Media Ltd [2026] EWHC 2223 (TCC).

Indemnity Costs Can be Capped in Principle - Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon OBE and others v Associated Newspapers Ltd [2026] EWHC 2207 (KB)

In a recent High Court decision, the court made a costs order against the claimants on an indemnity basis.  This requires the costs being recovered to be reasonable but does not require proportionality (unlike the standard basis) and, as such, typically results in a higher rate of costs recovery for the successful party.

In Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon OBE and others v Associated Newspapers Ltd, the court awarded indemnity costs on the basis that it considered the claimants' conduct to be unreasonable.

While the court decided against placing a cap on the indemnity costs in this case, it decided that it did in principle have the jurisdiction to do so.  The court highlighted in making its decision that, even where costs are awarded on an indemnity basis, the costs must still be reasonable and that indemnity assessment does not merely provide a blank cheque.

Read the full judgment in Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon OBE and others v Associated Newspapers Ltd [2026] EWHC 2207 (KB)

Impact of data centre construction on the insurance and reinsurance market

A recent analysis of the market carried out by Barbour ABI for Construction News revealed the industry is expecting to see more than £100bn worth of data centre construction, driven by the demand for AI and the pace at which it is being developed.

While the pipeline appears to primarily be sitting in jobs in the early stages of development, including those which have submitted for but not received planning, analysis shows that the current pipeline could result in 9.3 million square metres of data centre space being built.

The surge in data centre construction has, as one might predict, accelerated the data centre insurance market which is seeing an increase in value and complexity of risks placed.  

Find out more about Barbour ABI's analysis.

Read about the impact on date centre insurance.

Adjudication enforcement - rejecting completion date and finding time at large not a breach of natural justice (Entexol Limited v Sked Construction Limited [2026] CSOH 80)

The Outer House of the Court of Session enforced an adjudicator’s award of £113,767 in favour of the pursuer, Entexol.  Lord Lake rejected the defender's contention that the adjudicator had breached the rules of natural justice by concluding that ‘time was at large’, although neither party had advanced that case. 

Properly analysed, that conclusion merely followed from the adjudicator’s rejection of Sked’s asserted contractual completion date, an issue already before him.  An adjudicator was not required to warn a party that its case might be rejected and invite an alternative case.  A separate £10,000 claim remained unresolved because it raised a disputed factual issue.

Read the full judgment in Entexol Limited v Sked Construction Limited [2026] CSOH 80.

MHCLG updates Capacity to Build guidance to reflect programme rebrand and 2026-29 expansion

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has updated its Capacity to Build guidance to reflect the rebranding of the Council Housebuilding Skills and Capacity Programme and its expansion for 2026–29. MHCLG is investing a further £46 million over three years in the programme, which is delivered in partnership with Homes England and the Local Government Association.  The programme comprises three elements: (1) the Council Housebuilding Support Service (CHoSS); (2) the Council Housebuilding Support Fund (CHSF) and (3) an expanded Pathways to Planning scheme.

CHoSS aims to provide up to 225 tailored support packages.  The Pathways to Planning programme aims to recruit up to 150 graduates during 2026–29, with onboarding anticipated to commence from early 2027.

MHCLG intends to publish details of the CHSF 2026–27 bidding round in September 2026.

Read the updated Capacity to Build guidance.

With thanks to Emrys Moore, Richard Tosh and Alicia Ogborn

Disclaimer: The information in this publication is for guidance purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.  We attempt to ensure that the content is current as at the date of publication, but we do not guarantee that it remains up to date.  You should seek legal or other professional advice before acting or relying on any of the content.

If you have any queries please do get in contact with a member of the team, or your usual RPC contact.