Construction disputes between contractors and employers in Thailand can take years to be resolved in court or arbitration. This can result in construction work being delayed and sometimes abandoned, and contractors facing financial difficulties. In response, Thailand is considering the introduction of a draft bill titled “Act on the Settlement of Disputes regarding Payment in … Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills is a supporter of the GAR Live Construction Disputes conference taking place in Paris on Thursday 23 September 2021. Partner David Nitek will be speaking at the conference as part of the Belt & Road panel. Read more

Construction and Infrastructure partners David Nitek and Nicholas Downing have once again authored an expert analysis chapter in the eighth edition of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Construction & Engineering Law 2021 as contributing editors of the edition. Their chapter “Waking Watch: Fire and Building Safety After Grenfell” analyses the main English cases which … Read more

The past year has been a turbulent time for the global construction industry, with many construction projects around the world having been affected in some form or another by delays, disruption and cost overruns arising directly or indirectly from the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst there have been indications of a recent uptick in the global construction … Read more

In the long-awaited decision of Triple Point Technology, Inc. v PTT Public Company Ltd [2021] UKSC 29, the Supreme Court has overturned the Court of Appeal’s “radical re-interpretation of the case law on liquidated damages clauses” and has restored the orthodox interpretation of liquidated damages (“LDs”) clauses in the event that a contract is terminated … Read more

Tokyo Partner Craig Shepherd, together with Singapore Of Counsel Daniel Waldek and Associate Mitchell Dearness, have contributed to GAR’s ‘The Asia Pacific Arbitration Review 2022′ with a section on construction and infrastructure arbitration in Asia Pacific. The authors consider the potential impacts of Covid-19 disruption and the transition to green energy on construction disputes in … Read more

Significant construction projects often have contracts running to thousands of pages, yet still there is room for the parties to argue that other promises have been made orally, often in meetings on site. Important lessons concerning oral agreements can be learned from smaller construction projects where parties will sometimes agree all of the terms orally … Read more

Mott MacDonald Ltd v Trant Engineering Ltd [2021] EWHC 754 (TCC) concerned an application for summary judgment by Mott MacDonald Ltd (“Mott”) on whether the fundamental, deliberate and wilful breaches of contract alleged by Trant Engineering Ltd (“Trant”) fell within scope of the clauses limiting and restricting Mott’s liability. Trant took the position that the counterclaim … Read more