Steven Walker QC gives his views on trends in a panel of experts for Corporate Disputes magazine this quarter. In the magazine’s “Expert Forum on Disputes in the Construction Sector” he touches on the particular issues around PFI and contracts for the delivery of renewable energy, issues increasing public sector disputes more generally, security of payment, the growing use of adjudication, the new NEC forms, and strategies for managing and avoiding disputes.
“All construction projects have the potential to generate disputes about time, quality and cost. However, private finance initiative (PFI) contracts and contracts for the delivery of renewable energy have had a high profile recently. In the case of PFI contracts, the courts have described how long and poorly drafted the contracts can be. In relation to renewable energy, many of the projects involve cutting edge technology or, in the case of offshore wind, hostile marine environments. The 2017 decision of the Supreme Court in MT Højgaard A/S (Respondent) v E.ON Climate & Renewables UK Robin Rigg East Limited is a good example of a dispute arising in the context of a relatively young industry where an error in the relevant design code was only discovered following the construction of numerous offshore wind farms.”
To read the article in full go to the Corporate Disputes website (sign up to its newsletter is required).
