The academic, sporting and residential facilities a university offers to its students, staff and the wider community are important ingredients to the success of that institution. Accordingly, there is a continuing pressure on higher education institutions to undertake projects to either update their existing facilities or build new ones.
Such projects represent a significant investment of both time and money for a university and any disruption in the completion of the project, or operation of the facility, can have a detrimental impact on planned academic programmes or anticipated revenue streams.
Our specialist construction team provides HEIs with comprehensive legal advice at each stage of a project, from outline planning and design through to completion. We can guide you through the process and help you to manage the construction risks.
We add value to projects and provide cost effective, commercial advice which is tailored to meet the specific requirements of the higher education sector.
The team at VWV was professional, responsive and supportive in providing advice in a fast moving and cutting edge area of law. The level of resource made available was exceptional (while competitively priced) and the focus of all the team was unstintingly to support the University and protect its reputation.
Our experience in advising on building and engineering contracts allows us to guide HEIs through the range of possible procurement strategies available, to advise on the advantages and disadvantages associated with each strategy and to assist in selecting the most appropriate strategy to deliver the project.
Our detailed knowledge of the standard forms of building and engineering contracts allows us to tailor these standard forms of contract to manage construction risks and meet your specific requirements.
We regularly advise both HEIs and consultants on the meaning and effect of the standard forms of professional appointment.
Our extensive knowledge ensures that we provide clear and cost effective advice on the appropriateness of proposed terms of appointment and give guidance on the current benchmark terms in the sector.
We can also advise if a particular clause is likely to be acceptable to any third party and on the procurement of collateral warranties in respect of third parties.
We understand that construction disputes are expensive and can ruin critical relationships between the parties and accordingly our initial advice focuses on dispute avoidance.
We actively promote various forms of alternative dispute resolution, such as mediation, conciliation and expert determination and our team includes trained mediators who can use their experience to resolve disputes through negotiation before a situation becomes entrenched.
In some instances, despite the best efforts of the parties involved, disputes can arise. In such circumstances our team offers highly skilled commercial advice to provide the most efficient and cost effective method of resolving the dispute, whether by adjudication, arbitration or litigation.
Our Education team is ranked in the top tier of Chambers & Partners UK wide category and Legal 500.
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