Forensic Construction

Litigation, Arbitration, Adjudication & Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in relation to Professional Negligence, Delay, Design Faults, Bad Workmanship, Material Defects

Expert Evidence

Sound expert advice can help you through the potential pitfalls of litigation, arbitration and adjudication.

Control your exposure to risk & cost. Rely on our experience in the early assessment of a claim, the preparation of evidence & the resolution of disputes.

Most cases are settled ’out of court’ to our client’s satisfaction. Where this is not possible, we have earned an excellent reputation as credible, authoritative and impartial expert witnesses providing assistance both to our clients and the Court or Tribunal.

We undertake work ranging from major international arbitrations to small domestic cases.

ArchiFACT’s reliability is based on experience gained through hundreds of commissions, in diverse legal jurisdictions: investigating, collecting evidence and resolving over £30m worth of defects and a similar amount of wrongly alleged shortcomings.

Dealing with building failures requires various degrees of familiarity with science, law and practice. ArchiFACT draws together key aspects from each to provide a coordinated approach to the prevention, diagnosis and cure of defects and the related aspects of legal remedy and liability.

If disputes arise, early assessment and the rigorous preparation of evidence hasten effective resolution. Most cases are settled satisfactorily out-of-court. Where this is not possible, ArchiFACT provides credible, authoritative and impartial expert evidence - assisting both client and tribunal.

Remedy & Cure

Treating the symptom and not the cause often provides no more than short term relief. Eliminating every defect will correct the building's performance but can be unnecessary. Stopping the mechanisms causing failure, can provide an effective remedy and mitigate cost.

To predict the effectiveness of any action to correct defects, it is necessary to take account of building use, the causes of the defects and of the resultant damage. Thorough investigation leads to a prognosis which addresses whether:

The faults are benign - do not damage or impair performance.
The faults are malignant - will destabilise, compromise or otherwise degrade the building.
Appearance is compromised.
There is a loss or developing loss of amenity, performance, value, structural or weather integrity.

The best remedy is found by balancing the detrimental effects of carrying out the work, the consequences of leaving the defects uncorrected and the benefits to be derived from intervention.

Examples of Expert Commissions

Assessment of duties and performance of Professionals.

Assessing and reporting on the relative contributions of design and of workmanship faults to deficiencies in the performance of new construction.

Testing materials to establish cases of failure

Establishing cause of injuries to workers on-site due to falls, machines, and systems of working.

Preparing evidence on site survey errors and consequential reduction in profitability of development.

Testing structures for bomb blast damage, reinforcement corrosion, defects.

Investigation of subsidence for insurance claims.

Preparing evidence and negotiating settlements with professional indemnity insurers.

Building condition testing & surveys:- pre-sale/purchase, dilapidation, deleterious materials, latent defects.

Preparation of expert evidence in patent and copywrite infringement disputes.

Preparation of evidence on a proprietary system to support a trading standards prosecution.

Acting as single joint experts in litigation and adjudications.

Verifying the adequacy of research and development work in assessing the causes of failures in new building products.

ArchiFACT - solutions in FACT

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