No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Use of New and Environmentally Friendly Materials in Construction

Environmental responsibility has driven many changes in the construction industry that will increase the potential for conflicts and damages.  In recent years, model building codes have changed at a rapid pace to keep up with the pressures from public and environmental groups to reduce energy consumption by the built environment.  Some material manufacturers view these changes as opportunities to introduce new building systems while others are forced to continually change their product offerings to meet environmental regulations and code changes.  Designers are also forced to change designs to meet the new model code requirements, and contractors are finding themselves using new building systems that require special skills and have little track record.  These fast-moving changes have resulted in some premature building failures that resulted in large claims.  This presentation will discuss examples of some of these changes, the resulting failures and related legal issues.