Private water supplies can be crucial to those living and working in rural Scotland. Often drawn from springs, boreholes, burns, or lochs, private supplies ensure that residential properties remain habitable, that livestock and crops can be watered, and that land can be irrigated. 

As demand increases and weather patterns become more erratic, disputes over water rights and responsibilities are rising. We have seen a marked increase in enquires from owners of private water supplies about these matters in recent times. 

Introduction

The Scottish Courts have recently delivered some essential clarity on when the five-year prescription period for construction defect claims in Scotland begins, and on the narrow conditions under which it can be paused by section 6(4) of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973. In summary, the Court confirmed that prescription begins at practical completion of the works, and strictly limits when the “saving provisions” under section 6(4) of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 can cure a time-barred claim.

Background 

In 2022 1st Formations Limited (Formations) engaged Lapp Industries Ltd (Lapp) to carry out refurbishment works at an office in London. The contract did not detail any payment terms as required by the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (the Act), so Paragraph 2 of the Scheme for Construction Contracts 1998 as amended (the Scheme) provided the implied terms that would govern payment under the contract. 

Background

In 2018 Midas Construction Limited (In Liquidation) (“Midas”) entered into a contract based on the JCT Design and Build Sub-Contract 2011(“the Contract”) with Harmsworth Pension Funds Trustees Limited (“Harmsworth”). Midas was engaged as Harmsworth’s contractor to carry out "The design and construction of the Shell and Core, Fit Out and External Works of a new build student residential, private residential, and affordable housing development" ("the Works").

Background 

In December 2012, Disclosure and Barring Service (“DBS”), the public body responsible for issuing disclosure checks in England and Wales, entered into an agreement with Tata Consultancy Services (“TCS”), an IT services consultancy, to modernise DBS’s manually intensive paper-based disclosure checks by developing a new IT system. 

A landowner has failed in an appeal against a Scottish Government decision requiring the sale of an overgrown area of land in St. Andrews to a community group. 

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (the “2016 Act”) Part 5 introduced the “Right to buy land to further sustainable development” – essentially a right that allows community bodies to seek the consent of the Scottish Ministers to exercise compulsory purchase of land or buildings for the purposes of furthering the achievement of sustainable development.

On 21 May 2025 The UK Supreme Court delivered a significant ruling in URS Corporation Ltd v BDW Trading Ltd [2025] UKSC 21, providing clarification on developers’ rights to recover remedial costs and the extended application of the Building Safety Act 2022.

In the current financial climate, development projects are commencing under increasingly tight budgets, with contractors typically accepting less risk under much more restrictive scopes. On hotel development projects, this adds further pressure to projects already experiencing issues such as material and labour shortages, rising operational costs, difficulties obtaining funding, and evolving guest expectations.