Template letter responding to request for bespoke appointment contract

2nd May 2016

Mr J. Smith

Tower Company

London

Dear Mr Smith

Re: Appointment for Project

Following our telephone conversation regarding appointment I would like to respond to your request for signing a bespoke appointment.

The professional principals at stake are both statutory and personal;

Under the Architects Act 1997 we are required to abide by the ARB’s (Architects Registration Board) Architects Code: Standards of Conduct and Practice (2010) and as RIBA Chartered Practice, The RIBA Code of Professional Conduct lays down criteria that I must satisfy before starting work. They require written agreement with clearly defined services, maintaining our insurance cover and having the skills and resources to fulfil the obligations of the contract.

We are conscious that it is important not only for ourselves but for you as a client that we are only undertaking services we are capable of delivering in terms of both expertise and resources.

An example of this; our professional indemnity insurance (PII) is unlikely to cover a ‘fitness for purpose’ rather than ‘duty of care’ type clause which would leave us uninsured and liable for claims of professional misconduct.

A bespoke contract will require review from our lawyers and underwrites to ensure that we will be covered and retain our Professional Indemnity Insurance.

There will be an additional charge/cost and a delay to the preparation of the contract. I must also highlight to you that we have prepared our fee based on the RIBA standard agreement, which apportions risk fairly between the parties, equally weighted and has been tried and tested in a court of law. We would therefore have to review and adjust the fee on the basis of any reapportioning of risk.

We use the RIBA standard form of appointment on all of our projects and are familiar with each of its terms. I am happy to hold a meeting to discuss whether this would be suitable for you. The appointment also has the potential to make amendments and we can discuss specific terms you may be interested in including. If not please let us know your concerns?

I would like to take this opportunity to send a Client Care Letter outlining;

• The proposed fee as calculated with regards to our duties and schedule of services previously stated under the RIBA Standard Agreement 2010 (2012 revision)
• Assignment
• Copyright
• Liability
• Suspension and termination
• Dispute resolution

We can discuss this at our appointment workshop – alternatively, if you wish us to proceed on the above mentioned assumptions of the RIBA SA 2010 (2012) please return a signed copy of the letter.

Additionally please find attached a copy of the RIBA Standard form of Appointment 2010 (2012 revision) for your review.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to call. I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Yours sincerely

Architect XXX

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