Three sectors.
One forensic standard.
The UK construction disputes landscape splits into three distinct contractual ecosystems: buildings, infrastructure, and energy. Each has different procurement routes, standard forms, and dispute dynamics. Our forensic methodology is consistent. Its application is tailored to each.
Buildings
Architect-led design, JCT-dominated procurement, and disputes that revolve around defects, variations, final accounts, and increasingly, Building Safety Act remediation. From prime residential to complex healthcare PFI, the discipline is consistent: forensic analysis of the as-built record against the contractual standard.
Residential & Prime Development
Established that local authorities owe no duty of care in negligence for pure economic loss arising from defective buildings. Overruled Anns v Merton and defined the boundary between physical damage and economic loss in construction defect claims.
- —Final account disputes on complex residential fit-out and facade works
- —Variation valuation and loss and expense claims on high-specification builds
- —Defect and design liability disputes, facade failures, and remediation
- —Sequence disruption and prolongation on phased housing delivery programmes
Commercial & Mixed-Use
Held that courts have inherent power to open up, review, and revise architect's certificates, and that employers retain rights of set-off against certified sums. Overruled Northern Regional Health Authority v Derek Crouch [1984].
- —M&E coordination failure and commissioning delay claims
- —Curtain walling and envelope defect investigations
- —Measured works disputes on complex commercial interiors
- —Multi-party claims involving developer, contractor, and subcontractor chains
Healthcare & Education
The Roseberry Park Hospital PFI case. One of the first successful terminations of a healthcare PFI contract for construction defects, involving serious failures to roofing, plumbing, and fire safety systems in a 365-bed mental health facility.
- —PFI/PF2 lifecycle and defects disputes on hospital and school facilities
- —Fire safety and compartmentation compliance failures
- —Extension of time claims on NHS trust and university estate programmes
- —Design liability disputes on specialist healthcare M&E systems
Building Safety Compliance
The first Supreme Court interpretation of the Building Safety Act 2022. Held that developers can recover voluntarily incurred remediation costs in negligence, and clarified the retrospective effect of extended limitation periods under s.135 BSA reaching back to 1992.
- —Cladding and fire safety remediation cost recovery
- —Remediation contribution order disputes under BSA ss.116-125
- —Design liability and material substitution causation analysis
- —Multi-party liability allocation across developer, contractor, and design team
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