Yes, this will usually be a compensation event, but which one depends on how it happened: if a client restricts access under NEC after you've started, the route could be an instruction, a late-access entry, Others, or a breach. What decides it is who imposed the restriction, whether the Scope already allowed for it, and whether the Project Manager has instructed anything.
Clause numbers are for NEC4 ECC. The 60.1 entries and 33.1 are numbered the same in NEC3 ECC.
Which route applies
| What happened | Likely route | Time bar on your notice? |
|---|---|---|
| Project Manager instructs you to stop working in an area | 60.1(4), from a 34.1 instruction | No |
| Project Manager instructs new working hours, routes or constraints | 60.1(1), a Scope change | No |
| Part of the Site you've not yet been given is withheld | 60.1(2) | Yes |
| The Client's tenants or another contractor block the area | 60.1(5), if outside the Accepted Programme or Scope | Yes |
| The Client's staff simply turn you away, with no instruction | Possibly 60.1(2), else 60.1(18), a breach by the Client | Yes |
| A police cordon or authority closes the Site | Possibly 60.1(19), if all its tests are met, and 19.1 | Yes |
| The restriction is one the Scope already states, such as term-time working or a shutdown | No event. You priced it | n/a |
Clause 33.1 requires access and use of each part needed for the work, by the later of the two dates. It doesn't speak directly about access that is given and then taken back, and 60.1(2) is written around a date. That's why you shouldn't rely on it alone. When in doubt, notify under more than one entry.
What to do now
- Ask for the instruction. If the Client or a site manager told your team to leave, write to the Project Manager the same day and ask it to confirm what's required. The Client can't instruct you directly, and an instruction gives you the cleanest event.
- Comply safely. Don't push through a security line. Record who said what, when, and to whom.
- Read the Scope for existing constraints. Check any working restrictions and site rules first, since these decide whether anything has changed at all.
- Give an early warning (15.1), and propose an early warning meeting for a workaround.
- If no instruction caused it, notify the compensation event no later than eight weeks after you became aware (61.3; seven weeks under NEC4 ECS). Name each possible entry.
- Keep records from day one of idle labour and plant, double-handling, longer routes, and work you had to re-sequence.
Sample letter: "On [date], [name, role] told our team that they may not use [part of Site] until further notice. Access for this work is required under clause 33.1 and the Scope contains no such restriction. Please confirm by [date] whether this is your instruction. We notify a compensation event under 60.1(1), (2), (4) or (18), as applicable, and we are mitigating as follows."
Restrictions that aren't total
A partial loss needs a bit more care. Think of a lift taken out of use, a road closed during school run hours, or a delivery slot that's cut from all day to two hours. The effect is more often lost productivity than stopped work. Under 60.1(1), that's assessed as forecast Defined Cost of doing the rest of the work differently, plus Fee.
A fictional example, with illustrative figures. On a hospital refurbishment on Option C, the Client, after a change in ward use, limits deliveries to 7am to 9am for ten weeks. The Project Manager instructs the change. The Contractor's quotation includes a second handling crew, a small off-site lay-down area and one week of extended preliminaries. Total Defined Cost is £58,000, plus Fee, and the target goes up by that. The Completion Date moves one week.
What the Project Manager will say
- "That restriction was always in the Scope." Ask for the clause reference. A general requirement to co-operate with a live site won't normally cover a new specific limit, but a general one can be widely worded.
- "You could have worked elsewhere." Answer with the sequence shown on the Accepted Programme.
- "It's short, so nothing's affected." Delay needs planned Completion to move, under 63.5, but cost can still arise where the date doesn't.
In practice
The contract says you are entitled to the access it describes. In practice, these restrictions usually have a reason, like a safety incident, an operational emergency or a neighbour complaint. Treat it as a problem to solve first, and keep your entitlement alive with a short notice. Check Accepted Programme changes in your next revision too (32.1), so that nothing you submit quietly accepts the restriction as your own plan. If the problem is access that never arrived in the first place, see late site access, or browse NEC questions answered.
Related guides
- NEC Questions Answered: Real Situations on Site
- Another Contractor Is Delaying Us: Is That a Compensation Event?
- A Utility Company Is Late: Who Takes the Risk?
- Our Materials Are Delayed by the Supplier: Who Takes the Risk?
- The Site Flooded: Who Is Responsible Under NEC?
- We Have Not Been Given Access to the Site: What Do We Do?
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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.