Focus On…Construction & Engineering
Welcome to this publication by the Construction & Engineering Team at Hardwicke. In it, we have pulled together some of the content that we have published in the last few months. We have also taken the opportunity to give you advance notice of some events coming up (online for the moment).
It is an understatement to say that the last few months have been eventful for everyone. Our thoughts are with those who have been adversely affected by the pandemic.
We had been hoping earlier in the year to be writing to you all inviting you to a party to thank our contacts for their continuing support and celebrate the team achieving the Construction Junior of the Year Awards at both Legal 500 (David Pliener) and Chambers & Partners (Catherine Piercy) as well as Paul Reed KC being shortlisted for Construction Silk of the Year by Chambers & Partners. Unfortunately the Covid-19 situation has meant we have had to put these plans on hold.
Times have been particularly eventful, but in a good way, for Emily Husain, Kort Egan and Mark O’Grady who have recently joined the team. Katie Lee is also back following her recent maternity leave.
We hope you find this briefing useful.
Events
We have a full programme of events planned for September 2020 onwards and we hope to see many of you online at these.
One of the positive outcomes of the recent situation is the development of online events which enable many of you, who would not otherwise have been able to attend, to take part.
- 10th September 2020 – International Construction Law Conference. A free online conference being run by King’s College London and The Academy of Experts. David Pliener is one of the speakers at what has turned out to be the largest construction conference ever seen in London with over 2500 delegates signed up.
- The CAR Seminar Series. All these seminars run for 45 minutes at midday.
- 16th September 2020: The meaning of damage and inherent vice – what is the difference?
- 4th November 2020: Claims – making and defending them.
- 13th January 2021: WELCAR: an update.
- 17th February 2021: Public liability insurance – what does it cover?
- 17th March 2021: LEG clauses – the latest thinking.
- 14th April 2021: Coinsurance, the effect of Haberdashers and the rights of contractors – are you insured?
We will also be running a series of seminars on professional indemnity insurance – more details to follow.
You can sign up to any of these by either following the requisite link or emailing events@gatehouselaw.co.uk
If you missed some of the events we ran during lockdown (our 30 minute, informal #HardwickeBrews) then you can find the #HardwickeBrew Takeaway Cups below:
Construction Junior to Junior (J2J) Programme
Our Construction J2J programme continued during lockdown with:
- Simon Kerry and Michael Levenstein discussing adjudications during Covid-19. You can listen to a recording of this here.
- Laurence Page and Louis Zvesper taking a look at “Smash and Grab” adjudication. You can download the slides here.
An exciting programme of talks is planned aimed at more junior construction lawyers and we will be circulating details shortly. This will be under the title “Construction projects in turbulent times” and the online programme will cover topics such as force majeure, adjudication and enforcement, payment provisions, suspension and termination as well as construction insolvency. If you think any of your colleagues would be interested, please email us with their contact details so that we can ensure they are included in all mailings to do with the J2J programme.
The Construction J2J programme is just one aspect of a wider series of seminars for junior lawyers covering all our practice areas. For example, you or your colleagues may be interested in the CDR, Insolvency and Property seminars. More details are available on the J2J section of our website.
Articles
In case you have missed any of our articles and case notes, we set out below those which have appeared in the last few months:
- Back to square one? Statutory interpretation versus commercial futility after Bresco v Lonsdale.
- Insolvent companies and adjudication: Bresco v Lonsdale.
- Arbitration v expert determination: what are the relative merits?
- Does an expert owe a fiduciary duty when providing expert services?
- Flexidig Ltd v M&M Contractors (Europe) Ltd: what is the jurisdiction of an adjudicator?
- Remote mediations: making them work
- Jurisdiction of the court as well as the adjudicator under scrutiny
- Going for broke(rs): claims as a result of Covid-19 on insurance policies and against insurance brokers
- Business as usual? Early lessons learnt in handling litigation remotely.
- Frustration, force majeure and Covid-19
- 118th Practice Direction Update to the CPR – coronavirus pandemic related
- C Spencer Ltd v MW High Tech Projects UK Ltd – the relationship between hybrid contracts and valid payment notices
Fixed Fee Adjudication Scheme
Don’t forget that we have a very successful and long-standing Fixed Fee Adjudication Scheme. This covers adjudications worth up to £250,000 and provides a one-stop-shop for contractors, employers and other members of the construction industry who require a tailored adjudication service from commencement to enforcement.
The package covers everything, from drafting the initial notice of referral to attending a hearing before the adjudicator, if necessary, for a fixed cost of £5,000 (for claims up to £100,000) and £7,500 (for claims from £100,000 to £250,000).
Alternatively for defending an Adjudication commenced against you, the fixed cost is also £5,000 (for claims up to £100,000) and £7,500 (for claims from £100,000 to £250,000).
In the event that steps need to be taken to enforce the adjudicator’s award, we also provide a Fixed Fee Enforcement Service for the sum of £1,500 (for claims up to £100,000) and £2,500 (for claims from £100,000 to £250,000).
You can find out more details here.
Areas of expertise
The team covers all areas of Construction & Engineering claims including property damage and insurance claims:
- Adjudication
- Construction Arbitration
- Construction Insolvency
- Construction Insurance
- Construction Litigation
- Energy & Renewables
- Professional Liability in relation to construction professionals
- Property Damage
You can find out more about each area by going to the Construction & Engineering page on our website. In addition to these areas, the team also handle other forms of ADR including mediation, expert determinaton and early neutral evaluation. There are more details on their individual profiles and on the ADR Hub.
If you would like to discuss a possible instruction, please contact Natasha Devlin-Clingham.
There is also a dedicated suite of useful information and documentation on our Covid-19 Hub.
Disclaimer
This content is provided free of charge for information purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on as such. No responsibility for the accuracy and/or correctness of the information and commentary set out in the article, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed or accepted by any member of Chambers or by Chambers as a whole.
