Yes - although IIRC traditional JCT contracts used to put liability for design faults on the designer rather than the builder if they were at the same level. (And it comes back to me, I think also allowed for a design and build contract to explicitly put liability for design faults on the subcontractor - but I could /very/ easily be wrong.)
With "Traditional" building contracts (e.g. with BoQs etc) there is definitely more cost risk with the client, but this comes with a better control over quality, supposedly. But the performance risk still sits with the contractor due to the difference in duty of care. The contractor can only offload a claim if it can prove a designer was negligent.
In terms of D&B, liability can be a minefield. But even then, a contractor is still signed up to a fitness for purpose while designers have to only use reasonable skill and care.
My SiL had a problem with his heating system shortly after they moved in to their new build, he notified the builder and because the site was still under construction the foreman/ clerk of works came round. During the conversation with him he mentioned that the boiler supplier, Ideal in this case, was responsible for the design and installation of the system. The contents of the airing cupboard which included the DHW tank and all the controls arrived as a preassembled kit simply put in the cupboard and connected to the first fix pipe work and if I remember correctly it was a man from Ideal who came to fix the issue likewise when a radiator valve leaked.
Richard
The good old default in English law: architects, engineers and other designers can shrug their shoulders if their design isn't buildable.
Don't worry. According to the ?polyplumb salesman at a self-build exhibition that I visited many years ago, he assured me that even though the overlay slotted insulation panels were only an inch thick, it would still be cheap to run because 'heat rises'.
Ha! I suspect I am warming a lot of Hertfordshire. I think TNP suggested the main loss is to the sides rather than directly down.
It has crossed my mind to consider external insulation down to the footings. Currently shingle filled French drain so not a huge job but without some idea of the benefit, not over likely to happen.
Building Regs Part L used to have tables of Uvalues or heatloss associated with the perimeter. If you only insulate a 1 metre band around the edge (inside) that is most of the downward heatloss fixed.
Sarah Beaney built a new mansion in Somerset (recent TV series) and the inner edge of the foundation trenches were lined with what looked like the blue extruded polystyrene that is ?normally used under the slabs of coldrooms, and then the concrete poured.
Sure that wasn't to prevent clay heave on the foundations?
Yes the new build bit had good insulation under the concrete.
And the screed over the pipes lifted because the plumbers took the heads off the UFH manifold instead of using the rooms stats and gently building up the temperature. They said the blending valve was at minimum and there was too little screed.
Personally I would have started the UFH running before the laminate was laid to allow the moisture to escape.
And out of all that pipework (you never saw the copper pipework in the loft) there was just one leak.
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