CECA has teamed up with NEC experts Glenn Hide at GMH Planning and Ben Walker at Gather to bring you a series of CECA NEC Webinars that take a deeper dive into some of our most popular CECA NEC Bulletins and take a closer look at some of high-interest topics around the NEC forms of contract. These webinars offer practical insights you can start using immediately:
Session 1: A Positive Approach To Early Warning
What you’ll learn:
- Core NEC early warning requirements (Clause 15.1)
- Essential content for early warning notifications
- Early warning register management best practices
- Running effective early warning meetings
- Digital system integration and common pitfalls
- Financial sanctions and legal protections
- Cultural transformation strategies
Click below to watch session 1:
Session 2: Notifying Compensation Events & Instructing Quotations
What you’ll learn:
- Who should notify compensation events and when
- What happens if compensation events aren’t notified
- How to instruct quotations and alternative quotations
- Who can state assumptions about events
- What best practice looks like
Click below to watch session 2:
Session 3: Assessing Compensation Events – Part 1: Time
What you’ll learn:
- Assess time impacts accurately within compensation events
- Apply the dividing date to separate actual and forecast work
- Use accepted programmes effectively in delay assessments
- Avoid common pitfalls and strengthen project collaboration.
Click below to watch session 3:
Session 4 – Assessing compensation events Part 2 – Prices
What you’ll learn:
- We’ll cover the rules of assessment in clause 63, including the frequently misunderstood clause 63.1
- We’ll explore what to include in a quotation and the right approach for assessing changes to the Prices.
- We’ll explain the significance of the dividing date and how to spot and avoid common problems.
Session 5 – NEC4 Programme – Getting it Working for You
What you’ll learn:
- What programmes submitted for acceptance should include, and a bit about the process and timescales.
- Most importantly – how to make it work for you, to avoid it becoming an expensive admin box-ticking exercise.
- Top tips for getting programmes submitted and accepted, common blockers and how to avoid them.
Session 6 – How to Approach Option Z / Amendments
Option Z clauses can make or break a project. Get them wrong, and you’re stuck with unworkable risk allocations, contradictory provisions, or gaps that cause disputes down the line.Join Glenn Hide (GMH Planning) and Ben Walker (Gather / CEMAR) as they break down how to read, interpret, and respond to Z clauses on your next NEC project.
What you’ll learn:
- Why clients use Option Z and what they’re trying to achieve
- Common Z clause pitfalls that catch contractors out
- How to spot amendments that conflict with core NEC principles
- Practical strategies for negotiating or pricing Z clause risk
- Real examples from infrastructure and civils projects
Session 7 – Understanding the Role of Contract Data – 2 March 2026
Contract Data plays a crucial role in priming an NEC contract with important data about your project. It captures the selections of NEC options, names, addresses, rates, percentages, periods for reply. It incorporates important schedules and additional conditions of contract.
What you’ll learn:
- What Contract Data is for and why it matters commercially
- The difference between Part 1 and Part 2 – who is responsible for what
- Key entries that drive time, cost, and risk allocation
- Common mistakes when completing or reviewing Contract Data
- How Contract Data interacts with compensation events and the programme
Session 8: Understanding the Activity Schedule – 30 March 2026
What you’ll learn:
- What the Activity Schedule is and how it differs from a traditional BoQ
- When and why the Activity Schedule gets revised during the project
- The mechanics of revision – what triggers changes and who controls them
- Compensation events, Defects, and acceleration – how each affects the Prices
- Commercial risks to watch for when activities are added, deleted, or combined
- Real-world scenarios showing Activity Schedule management in practice
Click below to watch session 8:
Session 9: NEC4: Disallowed Cost Explained – 5 May 2026
We explore Disallowed Cost, how it comes about, and ways to ensure it is avoided in the first place.
This session looks at simple actions that can be taken pre- and post-contract for effective payment applications and smooth assessments.
What you’ll learn:
- The two definitions of disallowed cost (options C, D, E and the separate option F definition)
- Why disallowed cost only exists in cost-reimbursable contracts
- Where disallowed cost fits in the payment assessment process (clauses 50.1, 50.3, 51.1)
- Six categories of disallowed cost, walked through in detail
- The 30+ places where the scope is referenced in the conditions of contract
- Why building applications jointly with the project manager is the most reliable way to avoid disputes
- Live Q&A on HGCRA pay-less notices, “in order to provide the works”, and dispute costs
Click below to watch session 9:
Session 10: NEC4: Contractor’s Value Engineering Proposals – 8 June 2026
In this webinar, Ben Walker and Glenn Hide explore value engineering. They start by unpacking clause 16 and how the Contractor may propose changes to the Scope that reduces the amount they are paid for Providing the Works. BUT of course, how they unlock additional financial benefit for sharing their good ideas! We then explore secondary Option ‘X21 whole life cost’ and how this can advantage the Parties and the asset being constructed. 45 mins of practical content followed by your questions.
Click below to watch session 10:
Coming Up – Session 11: Communicating Correctly
In this webinar, we’ll walk through NEC4 clause 13 and what each subclause means for your contract administration. They’ll look at how the rules of communicating are applied in practice and examples of how things can go wrong. Defined and identified terms, correct verbs and use of NEC language is all on the agenda. Then duo Glenn Hide and Ben Walker will explore the role of communication systems and the wider considerations for behaviours and culture. Same format as other episodes – 45 mins of practical content followed by the opportunity to ask questions
Watch live/take part on Monday 7 September register on LinkedIn or YouTube.