Job Book 9th Edition - Book - Page 268
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Stage 5 > Construction: Supplementary Material: 5/SM6
5/SM6: Site meetings
(actions for the contract administrator)
The usual procedure is for the contract administrator to arrange and chair
site progress meetings, and for the contractor to arrange and chair technical
meetings. In addition, the contract administrator will call and chair special
meetings, including additional design team meetings, for as long as the project
requires this. There are also site inspections by the contract administrator, which
may or may not be formal and which may take place the same day as the site
progress meeting.
As a general rule, meetings should only be called for a clear purpose and should
only involve those persons necessary for the successful conduct of the business.
All meetings should be properly convened, with a precise agenda issued in
advance, and be chaired in a firm and fair manner. All decisions should be clearly
minuted.
Contract administrator’s site progress meetings
These are essentially policy meetings and should take place at regular intervals
(e.g. the first Tuesday in the month). It is sometimes helpful if they are immediately
preceded by site visits, but the two should be kept distinct as they serve entirely
different purposes. The main business of the meetings will be to receive reports
and to agree action necessary as a result. They are not the place to answer routine
queries or provide general information. All the people who attend these meetings
should have the authority to act.
A standard agenda of items should be maintained, and it is useful to include an
‘Action’ column. Minutes are normally issued by the contract administrator; this
is sometimes done by the contractor, but the contract administrator should be
alert to the fact that instructions contained in minutes prepared by the contractor
or other person may not carry the same legal effect. Minutes should be issued
soon after the meeting to all those named on the agreed distribution list. It is
sensible to require that any dissent from the minutes is made in writing within
seven days of issue.
For a specimen agenda, see Figure 5/3.
Meetings for special purposes
Even when meetings are called ad hoc for some special purpose there should
still be an agenda and a formal minute of decisions taken. Meetings might be
needed for various reasons, for example with representatives of adjoining owners
or with statutory bodies. It might also be necessary to convene further design
team meetings during work on site, and as long as they are needed a consistent
