February 2010

"Mediating Construction Disputes: An Evaluation of Existing Practice" is the full report of the 2006-2008 research, headed up by Nicholas Gould and Claire King of Fenwick Elliott and conducted by the Centre of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution at King's College London and the Technology and Construction Court. Much more has been written about the theory of mediation, and its proper place in the avoidance and resolution of disputes in construction, than about its actual use; this report combines hard detail about its practice within UK construction litigation with a summary of the existing knowledge about mediation in the common law world and about its relation to other formal and informal methods of dealing with construction disputes.

To download the report click here.

To download a summary of the key points of the report click here.

December 2009

The following article by written by Nicholas Gould, Partner, Fenwick Elliott was published in The Journal of the Dispute Resolution (volume 3 No 2)section of the International Bar Association. The same article was also published in Management, Procurement and Law publication (volume 163) of the Institution of Civil Engineers and it received coverage on the Practical Law website www.practicallaw.com

In this article Nicholas reveals the results of the research project of which he was leader, into the use of mediation in construction disputes conducted by King's College London and the Technology and Construction Court.

January 2008

Nicholas Gould, the current Chairman of the Standing Committee of the ICC International Centre for Expertise, outlines the services offered by the International Chamber of Commerce for the appointment of experts and the administration of expertise proceedings.

5 October 2007

Karen Gidwani, in a paper given at the FIDIC Contracts Conference 2007, considers the application of project mediation to the FIDIC form. In her analysis, Karen considers how project mediation works and discusses the CEDR model project mediation protocol and agreement, a joint Fenwick Elliott and CEDR initiative launched in December 2006.

June 2007

King's College, with the support of the Technology and Construction Court, is carrying out a survey on the use and effectiveness of mediation in construction disputes.  The survey commenced on 1 June 2006 and is almost at its halfway point.  Nicholas Gould summarises the interim results of that survey based on the results collected in the first quarter of the survey period.  The purposes of the research include identifying the circumstances where mediation is a true alternative to litigation, highlighting the most successful mediation techniques and assisting the Court in determining whether and at what stage it should encourage mediation.

If you would like to read the interim report, please click here.  If you would like to download the forms necessary to take part in the survey, (which is confidential), please click here and here.

7 December 2006

7 December saw the launch a Project Mediation, a joint Fenwick Elliott and CEDR initiative. As explained by Simon Tolson and Nicholas Gould, Project Mediation, a new method of managing the risk of disputes during the delivery stage of a project, encourages the project participants to contract from the outset to use mediation as the primary means of dispute resolution.

Simon and Nicholas also took part in a panel discussion hosted by Building Magazine. For further details either click here or go to the Building website, www.building.co.uk.