Engineering Your Way Out of Disputes
Roger Gibson has been appointed as a Planning & Programming Expert on numerous disputes up to more than £100M in value and has extensive experience working for national & international contractors in the programming and planning of major building, civil engineering and process engineering projects. Roger is also a practising adjudicator, and below he reveals why he thinks adjudication is the best method behind resolving construction disputes and ways in which to avoid disputes, especially in regards to delays.
Out of all the dispute resolutions, which do you think is the most effective for construction?
I have been involved in the resolution of construction disputes for some 25 years, and I consider adjudication to be the most effective for ‘construction disputes’. With adjudication, the appointed adjudicator is often a technical person who understands the issues involved. He will understand the technical aspects of the parties’ arguments and present his decision in a clear manner.
What would you say are important considerations to make when trying to resolve prolongation claims? How can these factors change cases?
As ‘Charles Dickens’ wrote in ‘Hard Times’, “Now what I want is facts, facts, facts.”
In my experience, it is important to keep and maintain good progress records for a contracting party to be in a good position to resolve delay and prolongation claims.
Similarly, for employers, my advice is to engage a specialist company to advise you and assist in keeping ‘good records’.
In my experience, it is often the party with the ‘best and reliable facts’ that wins a prolongation dispute.
Throughout your many years of experience, how have you seen construction planning change in terms of litigation cases?
When I first started in ‘construction’ in the 1960’s, there were no computers. ‘Planning’ was a hand drawn bar chart. Although, to be fair, activity durations were calculated using manhours from the estimate and an assessed labour gang size. The resulting ‘draft programme’ was then reviewed with the project manager, and then firmed up into the ‘project programme’ usually on a ‘drafting table’, with not a computer in sight.
What do you think is the best way to deal with construction delays, especially in order to avoid litigation?
In my opinion, the best way to deal with construction delays is to try and resolve them as close to when they occur.
In most instances, the factors which caused the ‘delay’ are known to the parties, and the individuals involved can be readily questioned.
Can you share with Lawyer Monthly a case you were instructed on which was the most challenging one you have dealt with to date? What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
One of my most challenging appointments was as a Delay Expert, when I was appointed by the contractor on an a delay and prolongation dispute on a major hospital unit in the North of England.
The major challenge was due to the lack of ‘progress records’ the contractor had kept on the project. There had been very few progress meetings on the project and the ‘minutes’ of these meetings were abysmal; i.e. no discussion or record of ‘delays’ and their consequences.
Through discussions with the project team and a close review of the monthly valuations, I was able to produce a historical record of progress achieved on a monthly basis against the original programme for the project.
This monthly analysis allowed me to identify the critical delays which affected progress that had occurred and caused a 20-week critical delay to completion of the project.
Finally, by reviewing the project’s contemporaneous records with the results of my ‘progress analysis’, I was able to put together a persuasive delay and prolongation report on behalf of the contractor.
My report was presented to the Hospital Authority, and after a meeting, my contractor’s client accepted an EOT of 16 weeks with prolongation costs.
Roger Gibson
Gibson Consulting Limited
3 The Quadrant, Coventry CV1 2DY
Tel: 024 7624 3607 | Fax: 024 7624 3608
info@gibsonconsulting.co.uk
www.gibsonconsulting.co.uk
I am Roger Gibson, Principal of Gibson Consulting Limited.
I am a Project Planning Consultant, Adjudicator & Expert. I have worked in the construction and engineering industries in a career spanning fifty-five years.
Primarily involved in the planning, programming and management of construction & engineering projects. I have been appointed as an Expert on time related issues in numerous disputes, carrying out forensic planning, investigation, delay analysis and disruption studies. I am an accredited Adjudicator.
I am the author of ‘Construction Delays: Extensions of Time and Prolongation Claims’ and ‘Acceleration & Productivity Disputes in Construction & Engineering’. I have also had several articles published in journals such as Construction Law Journal.
Gibson Consulting Limited are a specialist consultancy providing planning, project control and dispute resolution assistance to the construction and engineering industries.
We provide expert advice on matters of delay, disruption and productivity. With our experienced specialists, we also provide conventional planning and project control services.
