Con­struc­tion & Infrastructure

Our expe­ri­enced con­struc­tion and infra­struc­ture lawyers pro­vide strate­gic, com­mer­cial and prac­ti­cal advice through­out the entire project life­cy­cle. From pro­cure­ment plan­ning and con­tract nego­ti­a­tion to reg­u­la­to­ry com­pli­ance and dis­pute res­o­lu­tion, we help clients nav­i­gate chal­lenges with confidence.

We sup­port with:

• devel­op­ing project pro­cure­ment strate­gies and project deliv­ery options
• draft­ing and nego­ti­at­ing con­struc­tion contracts
• man­ag­ing con­tract admin­is­tra­tion and risk allocation
• ensur­ing com­pli­ance with indus­try-spe­cif­ic leg­is­la­tion and the Nation­al Con­struc­tion Code
• resolv­ing dis­putes through adju­di­ca­tion, arbi­tra­tion, or litigation

Our team is well-versed in the legal and reg­u­la­to­ry reforms shap­ing the indus­try, and we work along­side you to help mit­i­gate risk and achieve suc­cess­ful project outcomes.

“Con­tracts in which there is a dis­pro­por­tion­ate or inap­pro­pri­ate allo­ca­tion of risk are inef­fi­cient, cost­ly and will not serve the project” 

Mark Glynn — Part­ner Con­struc­tion & Infrastructure

Our clients span both the pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tors and oper­ate across all lev­els of the project con­tract­ing chain. These include multi­na­tion­al cor­po­ra­tions, ASX-list­ed com­pa­nies, fed­er­al, state and local gov­ern­ment enti­ties, list­ed and unlist­ed prop­er­ty trusts, pri­vate devel­op­ers, home­own­ers, own­ers’ cor­po­ra­tions, con­trac­tors, and a wide range of indus­try pro­fes­sion­als such as super­in­ten­dents, archi­tects, engi­neers, cer­ti­fiers, reme­di­al con­sul­tants, and project managers.

We work seam­less­ly with our spe­cial­ists in Prop­er­ty, Plan­ning and Envi­ron­ment, Stra­ta and Stra­ta Reme­di­al Con­struc­tion law teams, ensur­ing you ben­e­fit from inte­grat­ed legal sup­port across all aspects of development. 

This full-ser­vice capa­bil­i­ty is par­tic­u­lar­ly valu­able to our clients involved in urban devel­op­ment, mas­ter­planned com­mu­ni­ties, medi­um-den­si­ty hous­ing, and large-scale res­i­den­tial estates, sup­port­ing them through land acqui­si­tion, plan­ning approvals, design and con­struc­tion, and ulti­mate­ly the sale or lease of the com­plet­ed project.

Exper­tise

Pri­or to project commencement

• liaise with you to under­stand the project needs and objec­tives whether as a devel­op­er, own­er, con­trac­tor, con­sul­tant or superintendent
• under­stand your risk pro­file and require­ment for con­trol over the final design
• guide you in selec­tion of the most appro­pri­ate project deliv­ery method – design & con­struct, con­struct only, con­struc­tion management
• rec­om­mend, where appro­pri­ate, ear­ly con­trac­tor involvement
• assist you in ensur­ing you have the nec­es­sary sup­port and peo­ple for your project needs
• pre­pare con­tracts for ten­der appro­pri­ate for your project needs includ­ing amend­ing Aus­tralian Stan­dard Gen­er­al Con­di­tions (eg AS4000, AS4905, AS4902, AS4906, AS4122) or prepa­ra­tion of bespoke agreements
• assist builders, devel­op­ers, con­sul­tants pre­pare suites of tem­plate con­tracts for ongo­ing use in their businesses
• liaise with project manager/​superintendent as to ten­der process
• review con­tracts pro­posed for use by those involved in the project (eg Mas­ter Builders Asso­ci­a­tion con­tracts, Aus­tralian Insti­tute of Archi­tects con­tract, or Aus­tralian Stan­dard Gen­er­al Conditions)
• pre­pare and nego­ti­ate all nec­es­sary ancil­lary doc­u­ments such as con­sul­tan­cy agree­ments, super­in­ten­dent agree­ments, financier side deeds, access deeds, rock anchor licences, crane licences, deeds of nova­tion, secu­ri­ty, guarantee 
• con­duct appro­pri­ate licence and reg­is­tra­tion checks and com­pa­ny searches
• man­age the process of exe­cu­tion of contracts.

Dur­ing the project

• assist you with inter­pre­ta­tion and appli­ca­tion of con­tract terms
• pro­vide prac­ti­cal solu­tions to min­imise unnec­es­sary delay and cost
• par­tic­i­pate in dis­pute res­o­lu­tion process­es to pro­duce non-liti­gious solutions
• pre­pare any nec­es­sary vari­a­tions of con­tract or addi­tion­al agreements
• assist you mak­ing or resist­ing a Build­ing and Con­struc­tion Indus­try Secu­ri­ty of Pay­ment Act claims
• guide you through ter­mi­na­tion of contracts
• guide and assist you with any inter­ac­tions with the Build­ing Com­mis­sion or any oth­er reg­u­la­to­ry authority.

After project completion

• tra­vers­ing final pay­ment claims
• advis­ing on the man­age­ment of defects dur­ing the defec­t’s lia­bil­i­ty period
• con­tract claims in case of a dispute
• com­mon law claims in cas­es of negligence
• claims under the Home Build­ing Act for breach of statu­to­ry warranties
• claims under the Design and Build­ing Prac­ti­tion­ers Act 2020 for breach of duty of care
• claims and lit­i­ga­tion for defects in design or construction
• dis­pute resolution
• Build­ing and Con­struc­tion Indus­try Secu­ri­ty of Pay­ment Act claims.

Use­ful Links 

• Design and Build­ing Prac­ti­tion­ers Act 2020
• Home Build­ing Act 1989
• Stra­ta Schemes Man­age­ment Act 2015
• Build­ing and Con­struc­tion Indus­try Secu­ri­ty of Pay­ment Act 1999
• Envi­ron­men­tal Plan­ning and Assess­ment Act 1979
• Work Health and Safe­ty Act 2011
• Nation­al Con­struc­tion Code