Eversheds International

Construction and Engineering

Development

We understand, and are experienced in guiding clients through, the complexities of commercial development from the inception of a project to its successful delivery. We provide advice to our clients on: office, retail, residential and mixed use schemes; in town centres and on out of town sites; new build developments, refurbishments and fit out works. We act for developers, institutional investors, owner occupiers, and central and local government.

We prepare and negotiate for our clients the full range of construction documents required for commercial developments. We recognise that in doing so it is important to reflect a proper understanding of the requirements of the individual project. Our approach, however, for all developments, reflects a consideration of the following:

A clear, co-ordinated approach - we ensure that the role of each member of the construction team is clearly identified and documented. We advise on the most appropriate procurement route for achieving our client’s requirements, and have experience of advising on all forms of contracting from traditional to design and build, construction management and management contracting, as well as variations on those methods to meet the needs of our clients.
Appropriate use of standard forms - we acknowledge that the use of industry standard forms (such as those from the JCT and NEC suites) promotes consistency and understanding across the industry, and we advise on their appropriate use. Where relevant we will propose amendments to the forms to protect the position of our clients, although our approach is to keep amendments to the minimum level consistent with our clients’ instructions.
An effective interface with third party arrangements - we are used to working closely with our real estate and planning colleagues to ensure that construction documents reflect and fit with the requirements of other development obligations in planning permissions and agreements with other interested parties. We ensure that appropriate rights are provided to interested third parties, by way of collateral warranties and the appropriate use of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act.
Flexibility - we recognise that, by its nature, development work requires flexibility. We propose procurement methods, and prepare documents, which allow an appropriate level of flexibility in relation to development of the project and contracting arrangements.>
“Bankability” - we understand that commercial developments need to meet the requirements of those providing funding, whether that be end users, banks or other third party funders. In preparing all of our documents we ensure that the arrangements and terms of the documents will be acceptable to those providing the funding.

Core to our method of working is our project management approach, Dealtrack. For each project, in order to give cost predictability, we will scope the extent of our involvement and provide an estimate of our fees. For more details of Dealtrack click here.

For those clients with repeat construction requirements we have also developed our “Building Blocks” approach. For more details of “Building Blocks” click here.

A successful project relies on more than appropriate documents. We regularly provide project support to developments during the construction phase, with the aim of minimising areas of disagreement, and avoiding disputes.