Construction

Services and Expertise

Our Construction group has experience working with owners, developers, financiers, head contractors, subcontractors, consultants and project managers. Our services include negotiating deals, documenting agreements, contract review, requests for and responses to tenders, contract administration advice, strategic advice around disputes, security of payment, litigation, arbitration and expert determination.

We have accumulated down-to-earth knowledge of the characteristics that typify construction projects and disputes. Resolving issues is our key objective.

Our Construction group goes further than helping to solve our clients' problems - we identify creative approaches and competitive advantages to assist our clients in achieving their objectives. Our knowledge of the construction industry enables us to steer clients to a balanced position. Equally, we work collaboratively with clients within agreed frameworks.

Our aim is for our clients to keep moving forward and to bring their projects to a successful and profitable conclusion. Where it is necessary or desirable to 'run' a dispute to resolve contentious issues, we imbue the strategy for the process with a sense of perspective and purpose.

As part of our services to our clients, our team was heavily involved in the preparation of a compendium of security of payment legislation (including frequently asked questions), a useful guide for those working in the construction industry. This comprehensive document was compiled by the Australasian member firms of ALFA International, a global legal network of law firms.

Experience

Our experience spans the issues that surround projects over their lifetime, including:

• advising on and drafting a design and construct contract with an interface to a complex and evolving property acquisition and development transaction
• acting in a major dispute with a coating manufacturer over the failed coating of a bridge, including the conduct of a successful 23-day Supreme Court trial
• advising a specialist contractor in the water 'space' on a dispute, including a detailed response to a show cause notice and default notices (successfully resolved through negotiations)
• acting for Ericsson on aspects of contract negotiations with NBN Co for the roll out of Australia's national broadband network (NBN)
• advising on contracts for the supply of construction services and communications equipment by Ericsson to Telstra's T3 network
• acting for Ericsson in two construction disputes, for $115 million and $117 million respectively, incorporating a series of security of payment claims and an international arbitration
• acting for a statutory body on a large-scale landscaping project and dispute with a construction contractor that settled shortly following mediation
• acting for an infrastructure contractor, including advising on contracts for capital works, and operations and maintenance
• advising on the surfacing contract for Melbourne's EastLink tollway
• advising on the design, supply, installation, integration and commissioning of video display equipment, software and technical support integrated into the control equipment  for a New Zealand hydro power station, road and rail network control rooms in Victoria and New South Wales and various other commercial applications
• acting on the development of bulky goods centres Australia-wide, including drafting through negotiation during and up to the end of the project
• advising on the design and construction of a manufacturing plant, including contract drafting and advice throughout the term of the project in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia
• advising and preparing standard form contracts for clients engaged in multiple construction transactions, particularly those acting as principal or head contractor, Australia-wide
• acting on security of payment disputes, Australia-wide.