History

In 1964 IChemE appointed a special committee to review the question of contract conditions for process plants. This led to the publication in 1968 of the first edition of the Model form of conditions of contract for process plant suitable for lump sum contracts.

Now commonly known as The red book, this new initiative proved popular and successful, prompting IChemE to prepare an equivalent set of conditions for use on reimbursable contracts. The result was the 1976 publication of The green book, or as it was originally titled, the Model form of conditions of contract for process plant suitable for reimbursable contracts.

At the request of industry, a Subcontract form of contracts, the yellow book, was introduced in 1992. The yellow book offers a ‘back-to-back’ subcontract for use with The red and green books.

These forms of contract broke new ground in establishing a viable contractual basis, reflecting industry best practice, for the complex way in which purchaser, contractor and subcontractors manage their respective responsibilities on a multidisciplinary process plant project.

Since then, the series has been further expanded with the publication of in 1998 of The orange book, a minor works contract, followed in 2000 by The brown book, a subcontract for civil engineering works and in 2003 The burgundy book, for the increasingly popular target cost contract format.

Most recently, in response to the growing use of The red book on projects outside the UK, The international red book, international form of contract – lump sum contracts was published in July 2005. This is a truly international publication, which includes various additional clauses to meet the special requirements of international projects whilst removing any specific reference to UK legislation. This was in the form of a consultation edition with first editions of international red, green, burgundy and yellow due for publication in October 2007.

A quartet of other titles supports the Forms of contract suite. The grey book, adjudication rules, The white book, rules for expert determination, The pink book, arbitration rules and The beige book, rules for dispute review boards, set out the rules to be followed in the event of a dispute arising under a contract.

All the contracts are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changing industry practice, developments in the law and recent legal decisions.