As soon as frictions and disagreements emerge on a project (which invariably they do, in one form or another), we are able to provide you with practical advice as to how best to manage the problem in line with your commercial objectives.

Do you want to contain the problem and prevent a dispute from arising or do you want to ensure that the dispute is crystallised, so that you can pursue the remedies available to you? Whatever your preference, we can help you to try to achieve it.

We have extensive experience in handling all types of construction disputes, whether acting for the claimant or the defendant and in whatever forum.

In addition to ensuring that your case is properly presented, the team at Lewis Silkin, specialising in construction disputes, will be able to:

a) help you get the most out of the pre-action protocol in line with your objectives and before any litigation commences;
b) take your dispute (if necessary) all the way through to trial in the Technology and Construction Court;
c) guide you through an arbitration, helping you to use the arbitration process to its full advantage; d) help you fully prepare or defend adjudication proceedings, within the tight timetable prescribed by the process; and
e) help you try to steer clear of the more formal and extensive dispute resolution process, and help you identify which form of ADR is best suited to your dispute and your strategic objectives.

We can help you try to secure your objectives in a mediation or if a recommendation is required, we can set out your dispute in a manner suitable for early neutral evaluation. Alternatively, if the procedure required or demanded is expert determination, again we are here to help.

In addition to resolving your disputes, we can also help you allocate the risks at the outset of your involvement in the construction project by ensuring that your building contract and appointments say what you want them to say.