The team provides specialist advice and assistance in relation to any construction project including all aspects of commercial property, the contracts involved such as JCT, NEC and other standard form contracts plus bespoke contracts and ancillary documentation (collateral warranties, parent company guarantees, performance bonds, novation agreements and funding arrangements). We have a wide range of experience in advising owners, employers, developers, main contractors, sub-contractors, funders, architects, surveyors, agents and other construction professionals in relation to issues involving construction projects.
Disputes
In our experience, early intervention in construction disputes is often important to help avoid becoming tied up in lengthy litigation. This may be by way of advising on the meaning and effect of contractual clauses, identifying remedies and practical steps that can be taken or assisting with negotiating a resolution. The team's expertise includes providing assistance with:
- Contract disputes whether standard form contracts such as Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT), New Engineering Contracts (NEC), Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) or individually negotiated contracts
-
Professional negligence disputes
- Disputes or issues regarding payments (including in connection with Pay Less Notices under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996)
-
Defects disputes, including those asserted by way of set-off, counterclaim or abatement
- Delay and extensions of time claims
- Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) including mediation
- Adjudication, including under the Scheme for Construction Contracts
- Arbitration
- Court proceedings (including dealing with claims in the Technology and Construction Court).
-
Regulatory matters, issues involving CDM Regulations and other prosecutions or investigations brought by the HSE, Trading Standards or other public bodies
There are a number of complicated terms and acoynms in construction law that can be confusing, we have therefore created a useful glossary of all these terms here.
Contact our experts if you have a construction dispute or require advice on contracts prior to the commencement of a project by email or by calling 01603 610911
what our clients say
We engaged Leathes Prior to help with an issue that had taken our previous appointment a long time to get any real traction on. We changed and got Leathes Prior involved who swiftly stepped in and brought to a quick conclusion getting us a result that we didn't think we would achieve. The most impressive aspect is that he picked up and understood the issue in an instant and thought up our strategy laying it out in simple terms and guided us through to the completion. We have already engaged his services on further historic issue that we have and are confident that he will achieve a similar outcome for us.
I am pleased with the outcome and would like to say thanks again to you and Mike for the professional and caring way you both managed my situation. I cannot think of any way the service you provided could have been improved. I would certainly be moved to use Leathes Prior for any legal service that I may require in the future.
This Norwich-based team continues to impress and adds growing expertise in the construction industry to its existing corporate and commercial know-how.