Construction and Engineering Solicitors
IBB’s dedicated Construction and Engineering team provides industry-leading legal support to clients within this highly regulated and challenging sector, across the UK and internationally.
Our Construction and Engineering solicitors are experienced enough to have seen most things before and are quick to think of solutions for any new situations that arise. That’s why IBB Law has become the preferred choice for many experienced purchasers of construction and engineering legal services in the UK today.
Tailored legal advice to add value to our clients projects
At every stage of a project, our aim is to provide clear and practical legal advice to reflect the commercial realities that our clients face every day. Our goal is to help bring our clients’ plans to fruition on time and on budget. We won’t dwell unnecessarily on matters that cause delay and additional expense.
Our Construction and Engineering team works closely with IBB’s leading Commercial Real Estate, and Residential Development teams. This work embraces procurement advice, and contract drafting (liaising with interested third parties such as funders where necessary) so as to ensure that matters are properly set-up from the very beginning. Also, many clients look to us to provide general advice during the course of their projects, and to help them properly operate their contracts. We find that early strategic legal advice is a very effective way to add value to our clients’ projects and to help them avoid disputes.
Effective Construction and Engineering dispute resolution
Where disputes are unavoidable, we find that our early intervention in the project can help to ensure that our clients are well prepared and ultimately successful in any later Dispute Resolution process (such as Adjudication, Expert Determination, Arbitration, Mediation, or Court Litigation).
Our ultimate objective will always be to find a positive solution that protects our clients’ commercial interests and reputation.
Extensive experience acting for all types of clients
We serve a wide range of clients including banks, insurers, occupiers, property developers, house builders, main contractors, specialist sub-contractors, engineering companies, logistics companies, construction and engineering professionals, local government and not-for-profit organisations.
Many of our clients have a wealth of industry experience and are seasoned purchasers of construction and engineering legal services. Equally, we recognise that the industry can be quite bewildering for our other clients, and we are happy to offer guidance where it is needed.
Regardless of experience and background, we identify effective solutions to solve our clients’ problems.
Independent recognition
We are recognised by our peers and praised by our clients for our expertise and our ability to deliver clear, commercially focused advice. The team is ranked as a Band 1 firm in both Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500.
Looking for advice on construction and engineering law?
If you need clear and commercial advice from market leading experts on any aspect of construction and engineering law, our team will be delighted to assist.
To discuss your requirements, you can call us on 03456 381 381 or email construction@ibblaw.co.uk.
Meet the team
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- James Brice
- Senior Associate
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Our Construction and Engineering services include:
- Procurement and building the team
- Letters of Intent
- Pre-Construction Services Agreements
- Building Contracts (including JCT and NEC)
- Fit Out and Refurbishment
- Sub-Contracts
- Professional Appointments
- Collateral Warranties, Third Party Rights and Reliance letters
- Novation Agreements
- Copyright licences
- Guarantees and Performance Bonds
- Crane oversailing and scaffolding licences
- Deeds of Assignment
- Framework Agreements
- Development Agreements
- Building Agreements (including for Affordable Housing and Social Housing)
- Building obligations in Agreements for Lease, Forward Purchase Agreements, and Forward Funding Agreements
- Contracts for the supply, installation and maintenance of specialist mechanical and electrical plant
- Engineering contracts
- Repair and Maintenance Agreements
- Due diligence audits for banks and other financial institutions
- In-house training
- Construction and engineering dispute resolution, including:
- Adjudications
- Expert determinations
- Mediations
- Arbitrations
- Court proceedings
We tailor our construction and engineering law services to your needs
Embarking on an interior fit-out of your business premises? We’re here to help every step of the way. Whether it’s an office, a retail unit, a hotel, an industrial unit, or some other space, we recognise that an interior fit-out represents a huge investment for any business. The capital costs can be significant, and if things go wrong, there can be unwelcome delays and business disruption for weeks, months, or sometimes years. IBB’s Construction and Engineering team has helped numerous businesses with the successful implementation of their fit-out projects across the UK. Speak with us before signing up to a fit-out contract presented by a commercial fit-out contractor. Our specialists will work to ensure that you have adequate redress if things go wrong, and so that the fit-out contract properly responds to the sensitivities and demands of your business, and your stakeholders. Our services include:
- Drafting and negotiating the Fit-Out Contract,
- Project insurance,
- Appointing building professionals,
- Liaising with interested third parties such as landlords, other occupiers and neighbours,
- On-hand legal advice during the Project, and
- The resolution of disputes (should they emerge)
Our Construction and Engineering team work with property developers and house builders on projects of all scales. We advise on developments with Golden Brick provisions, Development Agreements, Building Agreements (including for Affordable Housing and Social Housing), Building obligations in Agreements for Lease, Forward Purchase Agreements, and Forward Funding Agreements. We will also assist our clients with design and construction procurement, and the satisfaction of third party interests (such as funders). We are on hand to provide general legal support throughout our client’s developments.
We advise main contractors, specialist sub-contractors, engineering companies and professionals on the drafting and negotiation of their contracts. We are also on hand to advise on Construction and engineering dispute resolution processes. When a debt isn’t disputed, we can call upon the services of IBB’s debt recovery team.
IBB Law regularly advises suppliers and logistics companies operating in the construction and engineering sector including on supply agreements, installation and fit-out contracts, contract disputes and debt recovery.
We carry out legal due diligence for banks and other funding institutions in relation to development funding for the construction and engineering sectors, and we are experienced in advising on funder-friendly contracts for a whole range of developments. Our ultimate objective is to minimise risk for our funder clients, but we understand the expectations of insurers and the market. We are accustomed to working effectively alongside credit teams and monitoring surveyors, and we will co-operate with borrower’s solicitors to help them meet funding conditions.
We regularly provide in-house training to the development finance teams of our banking and funder clients. We help them to understand the purpose of taking construction security, and to identify the various practical and legal risks associated with their clients’ construction projects.
Our specialist construction and engineering specialist insurance solicitors act for both major insurers and policyholders.
We advise on insurance disputes between individual policy holders and their insurer, and we advise on all other types of commercial insurance disputes acting for both policyholders and the insurance companies. Our services include the provision of effective support in relation to:
- coverage disputes
- the terms of insurance policies
- what policyholders need to do to remain compliant
- the impact of changes to an insurance policy or to a policy holder’s requirements, and
- complaints to Lloyds or the Financial Ombudsman, and Court proceedings.
Our construction and engineering solicitors work closely with local government authorities and third-sector organisations on their own construction and engineering projects and third-party projects that impact their interests.
We provide advice in relation to public utilities, highways, and rail. In the health and charities sectors, we have advised in relation to over 30 Acute NHS Hospital sites in the UK.
What is construction and engineering law?
During the latter part of the Twentieth Century, it came to be recognised that legal matters concerning the world of construction and engineering were becoming more complicated. Contracts were becoming more elaborate, major industry bodies began to produce their own standard forms of contract, a body of reported court cases began to grow, and legislation targeted at the construction and engineering industries began to appear on the statute books. As a result, the practice of law as it applies to construction and engineering projects came to be seen as an endeavour demanding specialist knowledge and expertise.
Law firms and barristers chambers developed expertise in the fields of construction law and engineering law, and organisations such as the Society of Construction Law were founded to promote education, study and research for the public benefit. Specialist arbitrators presided over the resolution of construction and engineering disputes, and the court service responded to the demand for specialist judges by founding the Technology and Construction Court (previously the Official Referees’ Court) in 1998.
The 1990s also saw the enactment of legislation imposing special rules that apply to all UK construction contracts and a fast-track form of dispute resolution known as adjudication. Today the practice of construction and engineering law is highly developed and demands a specialised skill set.
Get immediate expert advice on construction and engineering law
If you need clear and commercially astute advice from market leading experts on any aspect of Construction and Engineering law, our expert team will be delighted to assist.
To discuss your requirements with our industry-leading construction and engineering solicitors, email construction@ibblaw.co.uk.
