Legal & Contractual
Statutory v Legal Explained
Statutory means something specifically required by legislation, an Act of Parliament, Regulations, or another legally binding statutory instrument. If a duty is statutory, Parliament has effectively said: you must do this.
Legal is the broader term. It includes statutory duties, but can also encompass obligations arising from contracts, common law, case law, leases, warranties and other enforceable agreements.
Contractual
An obligation that arises because the parties have agreed to it as part of a contract.
The O&M Manual is not an optional extra at the end of a project.
It is a contractual deliverable and an important means of satisfying statutory information requirements.
Its purpose is to leave the Client with an accurate, usable record of the completed installation, what was installed, how it operates, how it is maintained, and how it can be managed safely throughout its working life.
Legal obligations
Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM), relevant information about the completed building is provided so that it can subsequently be operated, maintained, cleaned, altered and eventually demolished safely.
For projects involving more than one contractor, the Principal Designer is responsible for preparing the Health and Safety File, with information supplied by designers and contractors.
The O&M Manuals frequently provides or supports much of the technical information referenced by that file.
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, together with regulations such as PUWER, COSHH and the Electricity at
Work Regulations, can also make accurate operating, maintenance and safety information essential where equipment presents workplace risks.
Building Regulations impose further information requirements to enable those services to be operated and maintained so that they use no more fuel and power than is reasonable.
For higher-risk buildings and other buildings within the relevant scope, the Building Safety Act 2022 and associated regulations have also strengthened the importance of reliable building information and the concept of maintaining an appropriate golden thread of information.
Contractual obligations
This is often where the requirement for the actual O&M Manual and its detailed contents becomes much more explicit.
The employer's requirements, specification, preliminaries, contract conditions, consultant's documentation and individual subcontract packages may specify precisely what must be delivered.
If these items are stipulated by the contract, providing them is not simply good practice—it is part of the contractor's contractual deliverable.
Retentions - contractual
Are sums of money withheld from payments due to a contractor or subcontractor, typically as security that the works will be properly completed and outstanding defects or contractual obligations addressed.
The retained amount is normally released in stages in accordance with the terms of the contract, commonly following Practical Completion and after the defects period or making good of defects.
Incomplete O&M Manuals, outstanding certification or missing handover information may affect contractual completion requirements and, depending on the contract, can contribute to delays in the release of monies due.
NB - More details in "The Knowledge Hub" on this Website
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