What is the starting date?

What is the starting date, and how does it differ from the Contract Date and access dates?

Contract Date is when the contract comes into existence. Starting date is when the Contractor commences work on the contract. There are times when an Employer has a Contract Date of say 1st May to secure their services but do not want them to start any works (on or off site) until the 1st June. Separate again is “access date” which is the date or dates that they can get access to the whole of the site or parts of the site.