Opinion

Many hands make light work.

Sheena Sood

At construction and insurance lawyers Beale & Company we have long adopted a collaborative approach to our clients’ legal needs, developing long-standing relationships and understanding each client’s business in order to provide the best value advice. 

But today we are finding that we are not the only ones to have adopted a more collaborative approach as our clients, and their clients’ clients do the same.

Book your free legal surgery slot with Beale & Company at the ACE Annual Conference on 21st May. Confidential one-to-one surgery sessions will be held with delegates in private meeting rooms throughout the day and are available to book in advance or, if availability permits, as drop-in sessions on the day. Whether you need a simple legal clarification or wish to start a discussion over a more complex matter, book now to reserve your place. Contact Claire Parkes on cparkes@acenet.co.uk

Collaborative working is clearly becoming increasingly popular in the construction industry and is endorsed in the Government's Construction 2025 strategy paper as a key to the industry reaching its growth and sustainability targets.

The term covers a wide range of procurement methods, from simply acting in good faith, through partnering and joint venturing through to alliancing and other innovative structures. Our lawyers have advised on a number of recent projects which have seen various high profile public bodies and major industry clients lead this trend towards procuring infrastructure projects using some form of collaborative model. 

These include the Highways Agency's Collaborative Delivery Framework, Network Rail's series of alliance contracts and Thames Water's AMP6 alliance.  

Our construction team has significant experience of advising clients on a variety of procurement methods, including the emerging collaborative forms of working.

Yet one of the critical issues in the industry is to ensure that professionals are up to date with the latest thinking on collaboration and the advantages that it can bring to projects.  

To tackle this problem we will be holding a seminar in June to assist those involved in negotiating and managing professional services contracts, particularly those in industries which are already demonstrating a commitment to working in more collaborative ways. 

Working in association with the Garrick House Network, a networking and knowledge sharing group for in-house advisors in the construction industry, the seminar will introduce the various forms of collaborative working, highlight some of the lessons learnt and look at how matters might develop in the future.

We will also be joined by Griffiths & Armour, specialist construction brokers, who will address the insurance related issues which arise from these new ways of working and how these can be addressed by clients and insurers.

So make sure that you are in the know. For further information on this seminar or to register for a place, please contact Katie Garrett, Marketing Manager at Beale & Company on k.garrett@beale-law.com

The seminar will be reported in a special report in the June edition of Infrastructure Intelligence.