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Centre of Construction Law & Dispute Resolution
The Dickson Poon School of Law

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Activity

The Centre of Construction Law & Dispute Resolution furthers research into all areas of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution in a domestic, comparative and transnational contexts.

Members of staff at the Centre are engaged in a number of research projects nationally and internationally:

  • Dispute resolution in construction: Theory and practice around the world - see further details below
  • Transnational construction arbitration and ADR - see further details below
  • The transnational dimension of arbitration agreements and arbitral awards, particularly the law applicable to arbitration agreements and the applicability of the doctrines of issue estoppel and abuse of process in proceedings for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards
  • Statutory adjudication in the UK and in other common law jurisdictions
  • The use of Disputes Boards (DRBs, DABs, DAABs) in a global context
  • Public policy issues in construction arbitration - corruption, competition, sustainability, enviromental issues and climate change
  • Academic partner of the UK Government, evaluating trials of new procurement approaches to early contractor involvement and supply chain management
  • The legal implications of Building Information Management (BIM) - see further details belowy
  • The impact of construction projects on the community and local economy

Survey Launched on construction disputes in Africa 

The Africa Construction Law (ACL) and the Centre of Construction Law & Dispute Resolution have launched their new project on Construction Disputes in Africa at the ACL Annual Conference.

The conference was held on 11–12 May 2026 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is the premier gathering of construction law and dispute resolution professionals active across the continent.

Africa is home to some of the world's most ambitious and complex construction projects. Construction, in this context, extends well beyond traditional building and civil engineering works. It encompasses the full spectrum of the built environment: the energy systems powering the continent's growth, the natural resources developments driving its economies, and the cross-border infrastructure programmes reshaping its societies. Yet the legal and dispute resolution landscape underpinning this vast and varied activity remains significantly under-researched.

The Construction Disputes in Africa Survey seeks to fill that gap. It invites responses from three categories of participants: organisations that have been party to or otherwise involved in construction projects in Africa; practitioners who have been professionally engaged in the resolution or management of construction disputes on the continent; and dispute resolution institutions that have administered such proceedings.

The survey covers the period from January 2021 to December 2025 and focuses on commercial arbitration as the primary dispute resolution mechanism, while also capturing data on other dispute resolution methods, including negotiation, mediation, adjudication, dispute boards, and court proceedings. Respondents are invited to share their experience of individual disputes as well as their broader experience with the dispute resolution landscape in Africa.

The Project is a joint initiative of Africa Construction Law (ACL) and Centre of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution, King’s College London, led by Professor Renato Nazzini KC and Ngo-Martins Okonmah, alongside Raquel Macedo Moreira and Asiya Ali.

The members of the Steering Committee are:

  • Ademola Bamgbose, Senior Associate, Hogan Lovells (United Kingdom),
  • Dr Engy Serag, Executive Director of Contracts and Claims, Orascom Construction Plc (Egypt)
  • Ilham Kabbouri (Senior Associate, Vinson & Elkins, UAE)
  • Michelle Porter Wright (Partner, Head of Dispute Resolution, Baker McKenzie, South Africa)
  • Nagla Nassar (Senior Partner, NassaLaw, Cairo)
  • Omonigho Oyoma Brown (Corporate Head of Contract Management, Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, Nigeria)
  • Paula Ochango (Legal Counsel Africa and Compliance Focal Point Kenya, Mota-Engil, Kenya)
  • Primah Atugonza Kyambadde (Principal Legal Counsel and PPP & Infrastructure Sector Lead, The African Legal Support Facility, Côte d'Ivoire)
  • Sofia Vale (Independent Arbitrator, Angola).

 

Participate in the survey

You can respond to the survey online here. 

The findings will be published by the Africa Construction Law (ACL) and the Centre of Construction Law & Dispute Resolution at King's College London. Results will be made available at:

For any queries, please contact researchprojects@kcl.ac.uk.

 

International Construction Arbitration Perspectives on Best Practice

 In partnership with Pinsent Masons, the Centre of Construction Law & Dispute Resolution hosts a nine-part series, International Construction Arbitration: Perspectives on Best Practice. Bringing together leading practitioners, arbitrators, and representatives of arbitral institutions, the series offers in-depth discussion of every stage of international construction arbitration—from the selection of arbitrators and interim measures to case management conferences, working documents, and the conduct of hearings. Each session combines practical insights with cutting-edge analysis of emerging trends, equipping practitioners, in-house counsel, and academics with the tools to navigate complex, high-value disputes.

 Past events:

  • Episode 1 – Selection of Arbitrators (15 April 2024)
  • Episode 2 – Interim Measures, Initial Stages, and Settlement (2 June 2024)
  • Episode 3 – Terms of Reference (10 February 2025)
  • Episode 4 – Procedural Rules, Case Management Conferences & Procedure Timetables (7 May 2025)

 Upcoming events:

  • Episode 5 – Working Documents, Schedules, Tests & Site Visits (22 October 2025)
  • Programmes / Critical Path / Computation of Claims (date TBC)
  • Document Control in Large Cases (date TBC)
  • Factual and Expert Witnesses (date TBC)
  • Merits Hearings (date TBC)

 

Events

Events

Upcoming events at the Centre of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution

Construction Adjudication

The Centre of Construction Law & Dispute Resolution in partnership with The Adjudication Society, has been engaged in a three-year project relating to construction adjudication in the UK from 2022 to 2024. Led by Professor Renato Nazzini KC and Aleksander Godhe, the project examined the practice of adjudication in depth, tracing key statistical trends and exploring potential reforms. The Centre’s work in this area has had a profound impact on the practice of adjudication most notably in the area of diversity, causes of adjudicated disputes, perceptions of adjudicator biases and many others. Lord Justice Coulson commented in his foreword that the 2022 Report was a ‘seminal moment in the story of this unique dispute resolution process’. The project has resulted in three published reports which can be accessed below:

Sky scene of buildings under scaffolding

Reimagining Contruction Adjudication

Professor Renato Nazzini and Aleksander Godhe discuss reimagining construction adjudication.

Dispute Boards

The Centre of Construction Law & Dispute Resolution at King’s College London has once again led groundbreaking empirical research with the publication of the 2024 Dispute Boards International Survey: A Study on the Worldwide Use of Dispute Boards over the Past Six Years. Led by Professor Renato Nazzini KC and Research Associate Raquel Macedo Moreira, this year-long project gathered responses from more than 200 participants—including individuals, institutions, funders, and entities—documenting over 4,000 dispute boards over six years all over the world. The report delivers the most comprehensive data-driven analysis to date on dispute boards, covering topics such as costs, benefits, compliance rates, and enforcement, bridging a crucial evidence gap in industry knowledge. Sir Vivian Ramsey wrote in the foreword: "the authors of this report are to be congratulated on producing such a comprehensive analysis of dispute boards. I am sure that this report will now become the most cited source of data by all those involved in dispute boards whenever the subject is discussed".

black crane against a white background resized

Dispute Resolution in Construction: Theory and Practice Around the World 

In 2021, the Centre, led by Professor Renato Nazzini, published a study of the key challenges for arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution in the 21st Century. This study provides comprehensive, rigorous and up-to-date coverage of key issues that have emerged in the first quarter of the 21st Century in transnational construction arbitration and alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

Covering six general themes, this book discusses:

  • The transnational dimension of arbitration agreements and arbitral awards, particularly the law applicable to arbitration agreements and the applicability of the doctrines of issue estoppel and abuse of process in proceedings for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral award
  • The importance of contractual adjudication such as dispute boards in construction and infrastructure projects  
  • The increasing prevalence of statutory adjudication mechanisms across the world  
  • The greater incidence of investment disputes and disputes against States and State entities over construction and infrastructure concessions and agreements 

Transnational Construction Arbitration and ADR

In 2018, the Centre, led by Professor Renato Nazzini, published a study of construction arbitration and ADR from a comparative and international perspective.

The research focused on the following key themes:

  • The validity of arbitration clauses and multi-tier clauses
  • The choice of institutional arbitration and problems and challenges facing arbitral institutions in today’s global economy
  • Multi-party arbitration, joinder and consolidation of additional parties in arbitration, and multi-party arbitration provisions in institutional rules
  • Expert evidence, the role of expert witnesses in construction arbitration, delay and disruption and quantum issues
  • Investment arbitration, examining the circumstances in which construction contracts can be considered “investments” for the purposes of investment arbitration and the question of when State interference with contractual rights may amount to “expropriation”, thus entitling the expropriated party to a remedy against the host State
  • The enforcement of arbitral awards, focusing on the mechanics of the New York Convention and the key issues that have emerged in relation to the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards under the Convention, including the enforcement of awards annulled at the seat, public policy, and whether Dispute Adjudication Boards (“DABs”) decisions may be enforceable under the Convention, recognition and enforcement of domestic and foreign arbitral awards in the Middle East, and estoppel in enforcement proceedings as a means of achieving more convergence and limiting foreign shopping internationally once an award has been rendered and enforcement is sought
  • Summary justice in the construction sector, Dispute Boards (“DBs”), enforceability of DAB decisions, and the interaction of emergency arbitrator procedures with other pre-arbitral mechanisms, including, for example, mediation or DAB provisions   

Procurement strategies for incentivising collaborative delivery to optimise whole-life outcomes

In November 2019, the Centre of Construction Law, working with University of Cambridge Engineering Department was awarded a grant by Centre for Digital Built Britain with funding provided by Innovate UK through the Government's Industrial Strategy.
This grant funds a two-year research programme that will examine and support construction procurement and contracting undertaken by high-performing collaborative clients and their teams.The research project aims to examine, in detail, successful programmes that have delivered significant improvements in long-term performance by adopting collaborative procurement and management strategies. It will explore and analyse the connections between successful collaborative procurement and digital technology.

CFeature Buildings

Performance through Procurement

In November 2019, the Centre of Construction Law, in collaboration with the Supply Chain School, Construction Leadership Council, Buiding Better, South East Wales Collaborative Procurement Framework (SEWSCAP), along with a number of prominent house builders and contractors, has commenced the 3-year 'Performance Through Procurement' project funded by the Construction Industry Training Board.
The Centre will be contributing its expertise in construction law, new forms of contracting, business models and form of contract to develop new collaborative procurement training modules and materials for the construction industry.

CFeature Workmen