MPH acts on behalf of contractors, principals and developers as well as other stakeholders in relation to domestic, commercial and major infrastructure projects.
Our construction law team provides advice in relation to joint ventures, tenders, contract preparation and negotiation, contract administration and sub-contract risk management. We produce plain-reading contracts, procedures and boiler-plate templates such as EOT, variation and site instruction forms that are appropriate for our clients’ projects.
MPH advises principals and contractors operating in the mining and resources, oil and gas, road construction and maintenance, rail construction, engineering, underground tunnelling, residential building and commercial development sectors. Our clients operate at all levels of the value chain.
We add value to our clients during the construction phase of large and small projects by assisting them with their contract administration, risk management and regulatory compliance functions. We assist many of our clients to formulate dispute avoidance strategies so as to keep them out of court and focused on project delivery where that is possible.
When disputes do arise, our construction team will provide clear, simple advice as to the dispute resolution options that are available, a reliable estimate of the costs involved, a statement as to what a successful outcome will look like and advice as to how we achieve that outcome.
We act on behalf of contractors, sub-contractors and principals in rapid adjudication applications under the Construction Contracts Act for the determination of payment disputes. We are intimately familiar with the technical demands of the rapid adjudication procedure and are well-resourced to accommodate the demanding time limits imposed by the Act.
We advise clients in relation to disputes arising from delay and disruption events, prolongation disputes, claims for extension of time, claims for liquidated damages and damages claims arising out of defective or incomplete works. Our construction team are also well placed to provide difficult advice when termination of construction contracts emerge as a potential outcome.
We act in proceedings in the Supreme Court, District Court, Magistrate’s Court and the State Administrative Tribunal as well as in arbitration proceedings.
Our recent experience includes:
Front-end advisory
- Preparing bespoke and Australian standard design and construction contracts including for subcontractors and consultants
- Settling head contracts and drafting back-to-back subcontracts for the construction of mine-site infrastructure including accommodation camps
- Assisting numerous clients in relation to their contract administration, contract compliance and risk management practices
- Acting for mining clients in the negotiation of infrastructure construction contracts and providing administrative support to clients in performance of contracts with an Australian state government
- Preparing terms and conditions for building and associated companies including special conditions to HIA and MBA standard templates
- Acting for customers in negotiating building contract terms
Dispute resolution
- Acting for the head contractor on the construction of a prominent high-rise hotel in Perth in several adjudication applications to determine multiple payment disputes.
- Acting for a sub-contractor responsible for the construction of several remote accommodation camps in relation to: payment claim disputes determined by adjudication; management of delay and disruption claims against the head-contractor; delay claims brought against the sub-contractor; and management of issues arising from restricted cash-flow including management of solvency concerns.
- Acting for an EPC contractor in a dispute with a major mining company in relation to delay and disruption claims as well as payment disputes valued at roughly $20M.
- Advising a contractor seeking to restrain its principal from calling on a performance bond.
- Acting for a sub-contractor on a major infrastructure project in multiple applications for adjudication of payment claim disputes and Supreme Court proceedings brought by the head contractor to judicially review several adjudication determinations.
- Acting for the sponsor of a major chemical plant in his attempts to recover several hundred million dollars in cost overruns paid during construction of the plant.
- Acting for the head contractor on a $700M industrial EPC project in the recovery of multi-million dollar defects claims against its subcontractor in Supreme Court and arbitration proceedings.
- Acting for a listed oil and gas explorer and producer in a dispute with its principal contractor, including a damages claim for substantial defects, with successful resolution of the dispute through private mediation conducted by a former High Court Judge.
- Acting for a listed operator/manager of a large-scale iron ore project in a dispute with its joint venture partner at the farm-in stage, which included successfully securing the disputed farm-in interest.
- Advising and assisting a listed oil and gas explorer in relation to the management of a shut-down and demobilisation program, including dealing with claims by contractors and related Supreme Court proceedings.
- Advising owners and builders in residential building disputes.