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United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Key definition
Design liability definition What does Design liability mean? In practice, design liability describes who bears legal responsibility for the adequacy and regulatory compliance of a project’s design, for all or part of the design scope. It is not a defined statutory term but a descriptive expression used across construction projects and disputes in the UK and Ireland. The liability of architects, engineers and design-and-build contractors arises under contract (professional appointments, building contracts, collateral warranties/third-party rights), in tort/delict, and under statute. The standard of care is central. Consultants typically owe reasonable skill and care. An express fitness-for-purpose obligation—common in design-and-build—imposes a higher risk and may not be covered by professional indemnity...
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Design risk and liability in construction: standards of care, fitness for purpose, procurement routes and key clauses across JCT, NEC, FIDIC, PPC2000, RIBA and CIC
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Practice notes
Design liability
When a party carries ‘design liability’, it accepts legal responsibility for some or all of a construction or engineering project’s design. On most schemes, the design is created and refined by multiple contributors—several Consultants, the main contractor and, frequently, certain sub-contractors—each potentially carrying design liability. Those with such liability can be held to differing standards of care: some face an absolute duty to deliver a finished design that is fit for purpose, while others need only demonstrate Reasonable skill and care. How design responsibility is distributed varies with the chosen Procurement route, and the parties may also expressly adjust the applicable standard of care in the building contract and in consultant appointments. This Practice Note examines the issues around design duties and standards of care in what is often a contentious area between the employer and the construction/design team. Although the focus is the employer’s relationship with the design team, the same principles would apply where a third party pursues a claim against a designer...
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Web page updated on 21/05/2026
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Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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