Peter Land

Construction, Engineering & Infrastructure

Peter has been involved with disputes ranging from single domestic dwellings to large commercial developments, and he has experience of the following types of claim from all perspectives including owner, employer, main contractor, sub-contractor and professional adviser:

• Defects, including sale of goods.
• Disruption, loss and expense.
• Delay, extension of time and liquidated damages.
• Final account and variations.
• Professional negligence of engineers, architects, contractors and their advisors.
• Party wall.
• Performance bonds.
• Contribution claims.
• Adjudication and adjudication enforcement.
• Peter is familiar with the provisions of the JCT, NEC and ICE standard form contracts and PFI contracts.

Construction & Engineering

• Acting for a property developer in a claim arising from interconnected development, property, construction, planning and roads agreements relating to a major commercial development in Cardiff, in order to determine the correct calculation of the amount of annual rent; that requires the determination of the cost of the development, claimed at around £48 million.
• Acting for the defendant, a concrete superstructure contractor, against a specialist subcontractor in the arbitration of a claim arising out of the alleged prolongation of almost one year in the construction of a 48 storey tower and a counterclaim for the costs of settling the main contractor’s claim arising from delay and disruption caused by failures in the specialist post-tensioned concrete works. Successfully resisted an application for permission to appeal the award.
• Acting for the developer of a multi-tower high rise development in proceedings brought by some tenants (both first purchasers relying on breach of sale agreements and subsequent purchasers relying on the Defective Premises Act) claiming they had suffered losses as a result of the need to have the ACM rainscreen cladding and insulation replaced (those replacement works having been funded by the NHBC).
• Acting for the design and build contractor in a dispute with a local authority in relation to the quality and performance of a waste composting plant; issues included the efficacy of the composting process, defects in the facility structure and machinery, and contamination of the waste supply.
• Acting for the project company against a hospital trust in a dispute relating to the completion of works under a PFI contract. The trust sought a mandatory injunction to obtain access to carry out its own tests.
• Acting for a manufacturer of thermoplastic products defending a claim for the costs of replacing allegedly defective sulphuric acid storage tanks.
• Advising a steelwork fabricator in relation to its rights to payment in circumstances where it had carried out works in anticipation of a contract award but the contract was ultimately awarded to others.
• Successfully mounted a challenge based on the s.105 plant exception to halt an adjudication brought by a pipework sub-contractor for payment in default of a pay less notice for works carried out at a facility that manufactured materials for incorporation in sterile medical dressings.
• Advising a local council in relation to the poor performance of the main contractor under an NEC3 contract for a major public garden refurbishment project. Successfully obtained a declaration on the correct interpretation of the contract from an adjudicator.
• Acting for an asbestos clearance specialist in an asbestos contamination claim by both the landlord and tenant of a residential property.
• Acting for the employer charitable trust defending a restitutionary claim relating to the provision of a security system at an historical property. The claims were successfully struck out.
• Advising an owner/employer in relation to resisting the enforcement of an adjudicator’s decision and the merits of its defects claim in respect of a residential development, including advising in relation to an NHBC Buildmark policy.
• Acting in a multi-party dispute relating to an allegedly defective air conditioning installation in a large office development. Appeared on behalf of the system designer defending a third-party claim from the M&E subcontractor.
• Acting for the claimant employer in proceedings to enforce an adjudicator’s decision against an architect. Successfully enforced the £250,000 adjudicator’s award.
• Acting for a private homeowner in the appeal of an award of a party wall surveyor made in the course of basement excavation works.

Professional Negligence

• Acting for the defendant engineer in multi-party proceedings arising from damage to a party wall in the course of a development in Mayfair. The developer claimed some £20m that had been paid to the adjoining owner following awards made by party wall surveyors over the course of some 13 years following damage to the party wall in the course of underpinning operations carried out during the demolition and re-development of the adjoining property.
• Acting for the main contractor against the civil and structural engineer in a dispute arising from the construction of a retail park following extensive settlement of the parking, pavement and service yards surrounding the buildings.
• Acting for a global data-centre operator against the M&E services design engineer in a dispute relating to the cooling capacity of a newly constructed data-centre.
• Acting for the claimant engineering consultant (at trial and as junior counsel in the Court of Appeal) in its claim for outstanding fees and defence of a counterclaim for diminution in value of a property development arising from delay in the provision of roads, drainage and utilities design.
• Acting for the civil and structural engineer in a dispute resulting from the collapse of a canal wall following the development of a canal-side office building.
• Acting for a main contractor in a multi-party dispute relating to the structural integrity of a nightclub floor that was alleged to have suffered fatigue damage due to resonant vibration. The contractor was defending the claim by the employer and pursuing third party claims, including a professional negligence action against the structural engineer responsible for design of the floor.

Infrastructure

• Acting for the primary sub-contractor in a dispute with a local authority over performance under a PFI contract for the improvement and maintenance of the authority’s road and related infrastructure.
• Acting for the engineer in an adjudication brought by its sub-contract engineering services provider in a payment dispute over the sub-contractor’s entitlement to payment for work carried out over several years in relation to a major tramway scheme.
• Acting for the network owner and operator against the contractor undertaking major refurbishment in the adjudication of a dispute relating to entitlement for payment for alleged additional works relating to Disability Discrimination Act requirements under a rail network PPP contract in which the employer successfully defended over £7m of the contractor’s £10m claim.
• Acting for a rail network against a signaling sub-contractor in a dispute arising from entitlement to payment in respect of company overheads under an NEC3 contract.
• Advising a local council in relation to disputes arising from NEC3 contracts for coastal defence works.
• Advising a civil engineering sub-contractor in relation to obtaining a final determination following an adverse adjudicator’s decision in a payment dispute arising from the installation of a district heating system for a local authority.

Insolvency

• Acting for a housing association in relation to an application for an injunction restraining the presentation and advertisement of a winding up petition. The petitioner (a roofing contractor) withdrew its petition.
• Advising the owner of a listed property undergoing extensive refurbishment works in the run up to and following the insolvency of the main contractor.
• Acting for the management contractor in insolvency proceedings arising from a contract based on the JCT Standard Form of Management Contract and Works Contract. Successfully struck out the works contractor’s winding up petition.
• Acting for an insolvent glazing company against a fashion retailer in the mediation of a dispute arising from the installation of a two-storey glazed shop-front in a major shopping centre development.