Tesco v Constain - Thomson Reuters

2003 WL 21729349 Page 242003 WL 21729349 (QBD (T&CC)), [2003] EWHC 1487(Publication page references are not available for this document.)earliest convenience."95. On this occasion Bucknalls, by Miss Bell,replied rather more promptly. In a letter dated 3April 1990 she wrote:--"Further to your letter dated 26th March 1990 wewould make the following comments:--(1) We acknowledge receipt of the twocorrectly amended copies of the Contractor'sProposals.(2) We confirm that the Employer'sRequirements have been revised in accordance withyour amendments.(3) There will be two original copies ofthe Contract Documents, not three as requested byCostain Construction Limited. One will be theContract set and one will be the "Certified Copy".Furthermore we enclose both copies of theTerms of Engagement and the Novation Agreementfor the Structural Engineer for your signature.Please could you sign these and return them to us atyour earliest convenience."96. Mr. Paine's reply to Miss Bell's letter dated 3April 1990 was dated 12 April 1990. What he saidwas:--"We acknowledge receipt of, and thank you for,your letter dated 3rd April 1990.With regard to paragraph (3) thereof you aremistaken in thinking that we requested three sets ofContract Documents. Two, of course, is the normand this is perfectly acceptable. We did, however,call for the Terms of Engagement and The [sic]Novation Agreement for each Consultant to be intriplicate. You will note from our letter dated 22ndSeptember 1989 that they should be in triplicate, sothat after execution each party can retain anoriginal. However, if only two are available weshall retain one upon our execution of the ContractDocuments and shall return the other one to you.With regard to your final paragraph you onlyenclosed both sets of the Novation Agreement forthe Structural Engineer. His Terms of Engagementwere not attached thereto. Since we cannot checkthe Agreement against the wording contained in theContract Documents until we receive them fromyou we suggest that we retain the two sets of theStructural Engineer's Novation Agreementspending our receipt from you of:1. Two sets of Contract Documents2. Two sets of the Terms of Engagementfor the Structural Engineer.3. Two sets of the Terms of Engagementand Novation Agreement for the Architect."97. At that point the matter seems to have lost anysignificant steam. Miss Bell did reply fairlypromptly, in a letter dated 19 April 1990. Shewrote:--"Further to your letter dated 12th April 1990 weenclose a photocopy of the Terms of Engagementfor the Structural Engineer, the original copiesbeing retained at this office.With regard to your request for the Architect'sTerms of Engagement and Novation Agreement,we have yet to receive either the aforementionedfrom Peter Hing and Jones, once received they willbe forwarded immediately.The remainder of the contract documentationwill be retained at our office pending the return ofall outstanding items, when the ContractDocuments will be assembled and despatched forsignature.Should you have any queries or require anyfurther information, please do not hesitate tocontact us."98. Silence then ensued. Mr. Paine enquired as tothe then current position in a letter to Bucknallsdated 25 May 1990."Your letter of 19th April 1990 advised us thatyou have not yet received the Terms ofEngagement and Novation Agreement from PeterHing and Jones, and that the Contract Documentswould be assembled once all outstanding items arereturned.Can you please advise the writer whether youhave now received the completed documents fromthe Architect and whether there are any otheroutstanding matters preventing your compilation ofthe Contract Documents?"99. There was no response to Mr. Paine's letterdated 25 May 1990. He wrote again on 7 August1990. He said:--"We refer to our letter of 25th May 1990 andnote that we do not appear to have received yourreply.You will recall that your letter of 19th April1990 advised us that you had not received from theArchitect the Novation Agreement and Terms ofEngagement. Can you please advise the writerwhether you have yet received the completeddocuments from the Architect?If you have received the completed documentscan you advise the writer if there are any otheroutstanding matters that are preventing yourassembling the Contract Documents and submittingthem to us for execution?If you have not received the documents from theArchitect can you please advise the writer whataction you are taking to conclude thedocumentation for this contract?We look forward to hearing from you shortly."100. Miss Bell did reply on this occasion, in aletter dated 29 August 1990. What she wrote in thatletter was:--Copr. © West 2004 No Claim to Orig. Govt. Works