Working Areas

NEC Working Areas are the places where the job's work is carried out and where its costs are largely judged: the Site, plus any other areas identified in the Contract Data that are necessary for this job and used only for it. They're often wider than the Site. They also act as an accounting line, because whether something is inside them often decides what the Contractor can recover.

The definition sits in clause 11.2 (item 18 in NEC3 ECC). The term has the capital letters, and working areas in italics is the matching Contract Data entry, which the Contractor provides in part two. This page is part of the NEC definitions glossary.

What the two conditions mean

The definition applies two conditions to the areas named in the Contract Data:

Condition	Practical test	Fails if
Necessary for providing the works	Does the job need this place?	It's just convenient, or you'd use it anyway
Used only for work in this contract	Is anything else going on there?	The office is shared with other projects

In NEC3, the contract's form of entry reads "the Site and" followed by your list. In the NEC4 subcontract wording, the definition itself starts with the Site. Both come to the same point: the Site is always in.

Why the line matters

• People. In the full schedule, a person's cost counts where they normally work in the Working Areas, or in proportion to the time they spend there. See the people component.
• Equipment. Equipment costs tie to time in the Working Areas, as set out in the Equipment component.
• Design and fabrication. Work done outside the Working Areas has separate sections and rates.
• Title. Plant and Materials brought into the Working Areas pass to the Client, as far as the Contractor owns them (70.2).
• Sharing. The Contractor shares the Working Areas with Others as the Scope says (25.1).

A worked example

A fictional Option C highways scheme with illustrative salaries. The Contractor's Contract Data entry lists the Site and a rented project office in a nearby town. Its regional base, 40 miles away, also holds a commercial manager and a planner part-time.

Person	Where they sit	Treatment
Project engineer	Rented project office	In the Working Areas, so full cost is recoverable for the listed items
Commercial manager	Regional base, visits one day in five	Only a proportion of cost, for the time spent in the Working Areas
Planner, entirely at regional base	Regional base	Not a people cost, so the Fee covers it

When the job expands, the Contractor wants to bring the commercial manager and planner into a new larger project office. It proposes adding that office, and the Project Manager checks both tests. Using it for another job as well would give a reason not to accept.

Adding to them

The Contractor can propose adding an area for the Project Manager's acceptance (16.3 in NEC4, 15.1 in NEC3). The allowed reasons for refusal mirror the definition: the proposed area isn't necessary or is used for other work. Note that adding an area doesn't necessarily mean a compensation event, or any payment for its use. It moves the line for costs. It's also a good idea to agree a clear start date in the acceptance.

What people get wrong

• Treating it as the same as the Site. A compound outside the Site can be in the Working Areas, but access to it isn't the Client's job unless the Scope makes it so. A compensation event for late access relates to the Site.
• Listing head office. Offices with other work fail the second test, so listing the building rarely achieves what the Contractor wants. A dedicated floor or team room may be a better answer, if the facts support it.
• Not updating the entry. An office move without a proposal leaves people technically outside, and that surfaces at an audit.
• Forgetting the first condition's effect on the Client. The Client reviewing part two should look at the costs an extra area could bring in, on cost-based Options particularly.

The neighbouring term is the Site. Read the two pages together if you're working on boundaries.

Related guides

• NEC Definitions: A Glossary of Key Terms
• Works Information
• Clause 10: Mutual Trust and Co-operation
• Clause 13: Communications
• Task
• The Works

This guide is general information in our own words, not legal advice. Your contract and its Contract Data always govern. NEC, NEC3 and NEC4 are trade marks of Thomas Telford Ltd; Contract Status is not affiliated with or endorsed by NEC.