Olivia Anderson

Construction, Engineering & Infrastructure

Olivia has a busy practice involving a wide range of construction and engineering disputes. She regularly drafts pleadings and/or adjudication submissions, acts and advises on High Court / international arbitration disputes relating to professional negligence and/or breach of contract claims related to complex factual matrices arising out of of residential, commercial and public projects. Olivia is familiar with all standard forms, including JCT contracts, RIBA and NEC forms, as well as bespoke contracts.

Recent experience includes:

• Acting as sole counsel for a contractor in a high-value international arbitration regarding a major public infrastructure project in Qatar. The dispute spanned issues related to alleged non-payment, allegedly defective works, delay and quantum. The dispute further involved the understanding and application of Qatari law.
• Acting as junior counsel, led by Fiona Parkin KC, for the Project Co. in a TCC dispute concerning the interpretation of a PFI contract relating to an energy-from-waste project.
• Acting as junior counsel in respect of two sets of High Court proceedings concerning fire safety defects in residential flats. Relevant issues included the liability of an architect and/or sub-contractor in relation to the defects.
• Drafting Particulars of Claim for High Court proceedings regarding non-payment for works and/or allegations of defective works in a residential development.
• Drafting an Amended Defence and RFI as junior counsel in High Court proceedings concerning fire safety defects alleged against multiple defendants.
• Regularly acting in adjudications as junior and sole counsel for referring and responding parties. Most recently, Olivia:
  • Successfully acted for a specialist consultant as sole counsel in an adjudication of value over £1m in relation to alleged professional negligence.
  • Acted as junior counsel in a c. £10m adjudication related to delay, succeeding in having the adjudication proceedings withdrawn after having been issued.
  • Successfully acted for insurers (on behalf of the Employer) in an c. £300,000 adjudication against an architect.
• Regularly and invariably successfully representing a major transport in its applications for summary judgment and/or strike out in various county courts.
• Acting as sole counsel on behalf of homeowners and/or contractors in various County Courts as regards allegedly defective works and/or allegations of non-payment.
• Producing a number of advices for developers, homeowners, contractors and/or insurers regarding the merits of potential claims. Issues have involved limitation (in and of itself, and in the context of the Defective Premises Act 1972), the quality of the evidential basis underlying a potential claim, the need for or quality of expert evidence, the application and interpretation of the Defective Premises Act 1972, contribution proceedings, and/or the strength of allegations of professional negligence and/or of breach of contract.
• Drafting pre-action correspondence in High Court proceedings. Relatedly, drafting a letter before claim as regards fire safety defects – in particular defective cladding, in relation to a claim under the Building Safety Act 2022.
• Attending to disclosure review in a major trial in respect of allegations of allegedly defective works.
• Drafting a Request for Information in domestic arbitration proceedings concerning a school and the lawfulness or otherwise of one party’s termination of a construction contract.