From the Editors – Construction Law International – December 2021

Dear readers,

It is with great pleasure that we introduce the December 2021 issue of Construction Law International.

Before introducing the excellent articles that comprise this issue, I take the opportunity to congratulate China Irwin, who will take over the role of International Construction Projects (ICP) Committee Editor 2022–2023. This publication is in safe hands given the close involvement China has had with this publication over the past two years.

We begin this edition with Shona Frame and Ricardo Barreiro’s final column as Co-Chairs. As you will appreciate, the past two years have seen significant challenges on many fronts but Shona and Ricardo have continued the excellent work of the ICP Committee and achieved much during this time.

In this issue, we continue the diversity and inclusion questionnaire with two contributions from Aarta Alkarimi, Diversity and Inclusion Officer, IBA International Construction Projects Committee, and Marine Assadollahi. We are grateful for their insights and for sharing their personal reflections on such important issues.

Recent issues of CLInt have focused on construction arbitration updates, and we welcome a response to the longstanding FIDIC Around the World series with insights from Thailand by Nuanporn Wechsuwanarux, David Beckstead, Asia Pacific Regional Forum Liaison Officer, IBA Power Law Committee, Phalintip Ueprapeepun and Suphachok Saengarun.

In our country updates, Amanda Staninovski shares the latest position from Australia on the Covid-19 recovery, where there are rapidly moving laws and policy on mandatory vaccinations in New South Wales. In the United Kingdom, Scott Stiegler and Yasmin Bailey discuss a recent UK Supreme Court decision that settles the law on the application of liquidated damages in circumstances where a contract is terminated before the works are completed. From the Netherlands, Jacob Henriquez considers the latest on the two-phase tender process for large-scale infrastructure projects. From California, Nathan O’Malley and Giorgio Sassine offer an update on the recent case Remedial Construction Services v AECOM, which considers the incorporation of arbitration provisions by reference under California Law.

This edition also includes five insightful feature articles. James Doe and Tim Healey consider the significant challenges facing the construction sector, such as tackling climate change and sustainable development. Alistair Wishart and Afzaal Abidi offer an in depth analysis of the drivers, policy and opportunities for energy transition in Central Asia. Indira Gomes considers the issue of legitimate expectations in the context of the fair and equitable treatment standard by reference to arbitral cases that reflect the importance of commitments made by states to investors. And Simon Ossai considers whether the Nigerian Arbitration and Conciliation Act is suitable for construction disputes. In our final feature, Philip Lawrenson carefully considers the duties to warn, advise and provide information, offering a comparative study of the obligations of contractors and design professionals in French law to those in English law.

We also include a book review, by Kiri Parr, who takes a look at Donald Charrett’s FIDIC Contracts in Asia Pacific – A Practical Guide to Application.

We would like to thank our contributors for their insightful articles and hope you will enjoy reading this edition.

We welcome your contributions, thoughts and insights on our diversity and inclusion series, FIDIC around the world, or country updates and feature articles, by contacting us or submitting your articles to CLInt.submissions@int-bar.org.

Thomas Denehy
ICP Committee Editor, IBA International Construction Projects Committee
Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Sydney
​​​​​​​thomas.denehy@corrs.com.au