New Engineering Contract
NEC was first published in 1993 as the New Engineering Contract. It is a suite of construction contracts intended to promote partnering and collaboration between the contractor and client. It was developed as a reaction to other more traditional forms of construction contract which have been portrayed by some as adversarial.
The intentions of NEC contracts include:
- Stimulating good management.
- Being clear and simple, written in plain English, in the present tense and without legal terminology.
- Being useable in wide variety of situations from minor works to major projects
The suite of documents now include:
- NEC4: Alliance Contract
- NEC4: Design Build and Operate Contract
- NEC4: Dispute Resolution Service Contract
- NEC4: Engineering and Construction Contract
- NEC4: Engineering and Construction Short Contract
- NEC4: Engineering and Construction Short Subcontract
- NEC4: Facilities Management Contract
- NEC4: Facilities Management Short Contract
- NEC4: Facilities Management Short Subcontract
- NEC4: Facilities Management Subcontract
- NEC4: Framework Contract
- NEC4: Professional Service Contract
- NEC4: Professional Service Short Contract
- NEC4: Professional Service Subcontract
- NEC4: Supply Contract
- NEC4: Supply Short Contract
- NEC4: Term Service Contract
- NEC4: Term Service Short Contract
- NEC4: Term Service Subcontract
The Engineering and Construction Contract has 6 options:
- NEC4: Engineering and Construction Contract Option A priced contract with activity schedule
- NEC4: Engineering and Construction Contract Option B: priced contract with bill of quantities
- NEC4: Engineering and Construction Contract Option C: target contract with activity schedule
- NEC4: Engineering and Construction Contract Option D: target contract with bill of quantities
- NEC4: Engineering and Construction Contract Option E: cost reimbursable contract
- NEC4: Engineering and Construction Contract Option F: management contract
There are a number of articles relating to NEC on Designing Buildings:
- Accepted programme.
- Activity schedule
- Compensation event.
- Cost reimbursable contract.
- Defined cost.
- Delay damages.
- Disallowed cost.
- Early contractor involvement.
- Early warning notice.
- Key dates.
- Latham Report.
- NEC contract change management systems.
- NEC contracts - road development and management schemes.
- NEC contracts and collaborative working.
- NEC early contractor involvement.
- NEC early warning notices - a tool of mutual benefit.
- NEC3.
- NEC4.
- NEC Option A: Priced contract with activity schedule.
- NEC Option B: Priced contract with bill of quantities.
- NEC Option C: Target contract with activity schedule.
- NEC Option D: Target contract with bill of quantities.
- NEC Option E: Cost reimbursable contract.
- Period for reply.
- Term Contract.
- The NEC and the Z clause.
- Time Risk Allowance.
- Z clauses.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
Featured articles and news
The 2026 Compliance Landscape: Fire doors
Why 'Business as Usual' is a Liability.
Cutting construction carbon footprint by caring for soil
Is construction neglecting one of the planet’s most powerful carbon stores and one of our greatest natural climate allies.
ARCHITECTURE: How's it progressing?
Archiblogger posing questions of a historical and contextual nature.
The roofscape of Hampstead Garden Suburb
Residents, architects and roofers need to understand detailing.
Homes, landlords. tenants and the new housing standards
What will it all mean?
The Architectural Technology podcast: Where it's AT
Catch-up on the latest episodes.
Edmundson Apprentice of the Year award 2026
Entries now open for this Electrical Contractors' Association award.
Traditional blue-grey slate from one of the oldest and largest UK slate quarries down in Cornwall.
There are plenty of sources with the potential to be redeveloped.
Change of use legislation breaths new life into buildings
A run down on Class MA of the General Permitted Development Order.
Solar generation in the historic environment
Success requires understanding each site in detail.
Level 6 Design, Construction and Management BSc
CIOB launches first-ever degree programme to develop the next generation of construction leaders.
Open for business as of April, with its 2026 prospectus and new pipeline of housing schemes.
The operational value of workforce health
Keeping projects moving. Incorporating unplanned absence and the importance of health, in operations.
A carbon case for indigenous slate
UK slate can offer clear embodied carbon advantages.
Costs and insolvencies mount for SMEs, despite growth
Construction sector under insolvency and wage bill pressure in part linked to National Insurance, says report.






















Comments
[edit] To make a comment about this article, click 'Add a comment' above. Separate your comments from any existing comments by inserting a horizontal line.