From adversarial to collaborative leveraging good faith to transform UK construction practices

The UK construction industry has long been characterised by adversarial and fragmented practices that hinder collaboration, create inefficiencies, and exacerbate issues such as payment delays and inequitable risk allocation. This research explores the potential of using a statutory duty good faith to address these challenges. Drawing on insights from 12 industry experts, the study explored how statutory good faith could foster collaboration, enhance trust, and ensure fairness within construction contacts while recognising the cultural and operational barriers to implementation, such as resistance from key stakeholders, lack of legal clarity, and entrenched industry practices. The research theorises that codifying a statutory duty of good faith can mitigate the pervasive adversarial culture in construction projects, where delayed payments, disputes, and contractual ambiguities are common. The findings indicate that, subject to a phased introduction, practical guidance, and long-term education initiatives, a statutory duty of good faith could reduce adversarialism. This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on reducing adversarial and fragmented practices in the UK construction industry, offering a practical framework for embedding good faith into UK construction contracts