Lucie Briggs

Lucie regularly acts in a wide range of general construction and engineering disputes both domestic and international. Cases include construction projects both domestic and commercial, large infrastructure and transportation projects, geotechnical and contaminated land disputes, technical engineering projects, M&E and manufacturing. The disputes cover a wide range of issues including delay, defects, valuation, final account and contractual disputes. Cases include:

• Representing a property developer in a dispute arising out of a large residential and commercial property development (circa £65 mil) on Regent Street.
• Acting in a High Court TCC dispute between a housing association and a design and build contractor concerning the construction of a supermarket and housing development. Claims of circa £2 million concerned defective design and construction works.
• Representing an M&E contractor in a claim concerning alleged defects in the heating and hot water installation for a large block of flats (both privately owned and housing association).
• Acting on behalf of a contractor in a dispute arising out of the design and installation of a waterproofing system for a multi-story car-park.
• Acting for the owner of a warehouse complex in a dispute against its structural engineers arising out of the defective design of the warehouse floor slabs.

As a chemistry graduate, Lucie has particular expertise in energy, natural resources and utilities claims with a particular emphasis on renewable energy. Cases include:

• Acting as sole counsel in arbitration proceedings concerning the design, construction and commissioning of a 1MW biogas plant which produces electricity from energy crops. Dispute concerned the design, construction and performance of the Plant.
• Acting as sole counsel in arbitration proceedings concerning the design, construction and commissioning of a biogas plant which produces electricity from food and animal waste.
• Acting as junior counsel in a high value arbitration (circa £300 mil) concerning a large offshore wind farm. The case has received some media attention and concerns a disputed variation to the works, the defective manufacture of the turbine foundations along with claims arising out of project delays to manufacture and offshore installation.
• Acting as junior counsel in an ICHEME arbitration dispute arising out of piping and mechanical works for a new Distillate Hydrotreater HDS3-3 ISBL project. Acted for the main contractor in a claim against its subcontractor. The dispute concerned allegations of wrongful suspension by the sub-contractor and the valuation and certification of the final account.
• Advising the designer of a sewage treatment plant in defending a claim of negligent design.
• Appearing as junior counsel on behalf of the owner of former industrial premises in proceedings relating to cyanide contamination on site. The claim involved allegations of fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of contract against the previous owners in relation to the presence of the contamination, Lambson Fine Chemicals Ltd v Merlion Capital Housing Ltd (2008) Env LR 37.

Lucie has considerable experience in the professional negligence field acting for claimants, defendants and their insurers in relation to claims brought against a wide range of professionals including architects, engineers and contractors. Cases include:

• Acting as sole counsel on behalf of the claimant developer against Foster & Partners Architects in a TCC dispute concerning the design of a 500 bed 5* hotel at Heathrow. Riva Properties Ltd v Foster & Partners Ltd [2017] EWHC 2574 (TCC).
• Acting for the claimants in a dispute concerning alleged negligent advice from specialist flooding consultants in relation to a proposed residential and commercial development on a greenfield site.
• Acting for an architect in an action which involved allegations of negligent costing, supervision and certification.
• Advising on a claim against a building society for a negligent survey.
• Acting for a solicitor in a professional negligence claim.
• Advising on the recovery of an architect’s fees.
• Acting in proceedings against a firm of architects in relation to allegations of negligent advice, design, supervision and administration of the building contract.
• Advising a firm of architects in relation to a substantial claim for works they carried out on a spa and fitness centre.
• Acting on behalf of the insurers of a structural engineering firm in a negligence claim concerning the design of the structural steelwork for a commercial premises.
• Preparation of the defence in proceedings against a surveyor in relation to advice given on agricultural compensation and payment schemes.

Lucie has extensive experience of party wall matters under the Party Wall Act 1996 including:

• Acting for a contractor in a dispute involving the alleged breach of a party wall award.
• Advising a homeowner in relation to a claim against a neighbor for damage caused by party wall works. In particular serious subsidence arising out of excavation works at the neighboring property. Proceedings included injunctive relief and a claim for damages.
• Acting in a party wall appeal in which the question of the extent of a Party Wall Surveyor’s jurisdiction under Section 10 of the Party Wall Act was decided, A. Onigbanjo v (1) Mr. Mark Pearson (2) Mrs Mark Pearson [2008] 8 BLR 507 (approved by the Court of Appeal in Reeves v Blake [2010] 1 WLR 1).
• Acting on behalf of a registered charity in a dispute about a shared wall alleged to be in a dangerous condition and in need of remedial works.
• Acting on behalf of the residents of a residential block of flats in West London in relation to a dispute arising out of unauthorised works to a party wall, in particular the knocking through of that wall to install windows.
• Acting on behalf a party wall surveyor successfully resisting an application to join him to the appeal of his own award under the Act, Chliaifchtein v Wainbidge Estates Belgravia Ltd (unreported).

Lucie also regularly appears in the High Court to obtain or resist injunctions arising out of party wall matters.

Lucie has considerable experience in disputes in the IT and telecommunications field acting for contractors and suppliers. Cases include:

• Acting as junior counsel in a multi-million pound dispute (proceedings heard in the TCC, London) concerning the design and implementation of an ERP package for a multinational company. This case involved issues of fraudulent misrepresentation, software failure and delay.
• Advising on the removal of a telecommunications mast under the Telecommunications Act 1984 (as amended by the Communications Act 2003).
• Advising in an action for damages under a software license agreement.
• Acting for a software company in proceedings concerning the alleged failure of software designed for use as part of a remote security monitoring system.
• Acting as junior counsel on behalf of UK-based subsidiary of a major global software and systems contractor in respect of claims relating to design, supply, integration and operation of IT system forming part of new nationwide IT solution for UK government involving claims against the UK government and against the sub-contracted software supplier.
• Acting for the claimant in a claim for damages for breach of contract and/or the transfer of ownership of the defendant’s software source codes, copyrights and declarations of indemnity in respect of software and use. The defendant denied such breaches or entitlement and by counterclaim sought an injunction restraining the claimant and a third party from infringing the defendant’s copyrights in the software, and declarations as to the claimant’s entitlement to licence or the grant of maintenance licences in respect of the defendant’s software together with damages. Lucie was involved in the case from the initial advisory stages through to the conclusion of the High Court trial.
• Acting in a dispute concerning the terms of a framework agreement for the development of a website for an event’s organiser to promote and sell tickets to their events through a social media integrated platform. The dispute included a claim for outstanding fees by the claimant and a counterclaim for breach of the agreement, in particular alleging failure to complete the website, the existence of bugs in the software, and the assertion of intellectual property rights over the code that had been produced.

Lucie has extensive experience in the conduct of both adjudication and arbitration proceedings. Lucie also regularly advises upon and appears in adjudication enforcement proceedings. Most recently Lucie appeared in the following cases:

• Philpott & Orton (Liquidators of WGL Realisations 2010 Ltd) v Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle School [2016] 1 All ER (Comm) 1, in which the court decided that an arbitration clause in a building contract ‘trumped’ the procedure for the taking of an account imposed by the Insolvency Rules.
• South Coast Construction v Iverson Road Limited [2017] EWHC 61 (TCC) in which the TCC decided that it was appropriate to lift the moratorium on proceedings imposed by the Insolvency Act 1986 when a company serves a Notice of Administration, in order to allow the enforcement of an Adjudicator’s Award.
• Seadown Developments Ltd v SMCC Construction Ltd LTL 6/11/17 in which the TCC dismissed the Claimant’s request for a Part 8 Declaration that an adjudicator’s decision was unenforceable applying the principles set out by Mr Justice Coulson in Hutton Construction Ltd v Wilson Properties (London ) Ltd [2017] EWHC 517 (TCC).

Lucie is a member of the Society of Construction Law

Qualifications

Chemistry BSc 1st Class with Honours (King’s College London); Lord Bowen Scholarship; Sir Thomas More Scholarship.

Publications

Contributing editor of Hudson’s Building and Engineering Contracts, 12th edition.