Building Tomorrow

In October 2017, the Society was fortunate to have Philip Britton, visiting professor of King’s College in London and Senior fellow of Melbourne Law School attend at SoCLA events around Australia to present his paper, Trouble with the Neighbours: Construction, Disruption and Damages.   The events, which were kindly hosted by a variety of generous sponsors, drew many industry professionals who gath...

Have people ever seemed to act inconsistently to you? Why do you think people are incredibly open and flexible one day, but very focused and structured the next? Why do you think some people are infuriated by things that seem insignificant to you? This episode podcast explores two key systems in our brain: (un)creatively named System I and System II. By understanding how these systems work togethe...

On 14 June 2017, a shocked world watched a tragedy unfold in the west of London. When the smoke cleared from the fire at the Grenfell Tower, 71 people were found to have perished. Whilst the specific causes of the fire are still being investigated, there is no doubt that the recent installation of polyethylene-core façade cladding was a major contributor to its reduced survivability; in turn, the...

Sean Brady, SCL Australia Director, interviews Kiri Parr, Arup Principal and Legal Counsel, on how we need to disrupt the construction industry.    Have clients given too much power to their lawyers? Where are we as a construction industry? Where are we headed?  What are the impacts of mega projects on the everyday working lives of our people, and what are the biggest disconnects between how we th...

At the recent SCL National Conference, Director Ian Bailey AM SC discussed the topical issue of private certification and defective building materials with Alisa Taylor, Partner at Meyer Vandenberg Lawyers in Canberra. Ian and Alisa discuss the need to get a unified approach across Australia to address the issues encountered by the industry in building regulation.  If you missed out on attending t...

When an aircraft crashes, or there is a near-miss, the airline industry rushes to learn the lessons so as to keep planes flying safely across our skies. Why doesn’t the construction industry take the same approach to project failures? In this podcast, Jaclyn Smith is joined by her fellow SoCLA directors, Dr Sean Brady (Brady Heywood), Matthew Bell (Melbourne Law School) and Kara Vague (Downer) to...

Laws are supposed to keep things in order. How, then, do they get so complex that they cause headaches - or worse - for the construction industry? In this podcast, Jaclyn Smith is joined by her fellow SCL Australia directors, Matthew Bell (Melbourne Law School), Dr Sean Brady (Brady Heywood) and Laina Chan (3 Wentworth Chambers). They focus on construction industry security of payment laws: brough...

Kara Vague is the current Chair of the Society of Construction Law Australia, having had an extensive involvement spanning a number of Committees over the last few years.  In this interview, Director Jaclyn Smith (@jaclynlindsay) asks Kara to reflect on her career and time with the Society, and share some of the current and upcoming activities. For those looking to get in contact with Kara: Twitte...

Jaclyn Smith, Director of SCL Australia, interviews Andrew Stephenson (Partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth) and Craig Macaulay (Executive Director at KordaMentha Forensic) on updates to predictive coding and technology assisted review, and what this means for construction disputes.   This podcast is for reference purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as s...

Melissa Yeo, Director of SCL Australia, interviews Wendy MacLaughlin, Senior Vice President of HKA Global, about her journey to becoming an internationally sought after construction programming expert, her advice for people working in the construction disputes space and the key features of the new SCL Delay and Disruption Protocol. This podcast is for reference purposes only. It does not constitut...

Raisa Conchin and Elizabeth Conlan discuss how to manage the pre-allocation of risk in the era of proportionate liability. Raisa Conchin is a Partner of Wotton + Kearney and Elizabeth Conlan is a Senior Associate of Wotton + Kearney. Kindly sponsored by Baker McKenzie, this SCL event was held on 8 March 2017 in Brisbane.  This podcast is for reference purposes only. It does not constitute legal ad...

In this episode Melissa Yeo sits down with Teagan Dowler, the author of the newly released book Rules of the Game - Women in the Masculine Industries . Teagan is also the founder of the Blue Collared Woman, a community that supports the development of initiatives to achieve greater diversity and inclusion within the engineering, resource and construction industries.  Melissa and Teagan talk about...

In this episode , we hear from two Directors of the Society of Construction Law Australia. Marianne Rose, Commercial Manager (Mouchel) interview Professor Ian Bailey SC (Wentworth Chambers) to gain insight into some of the key features of the new AS 11000. Representatives from the Society of Construction Law joined with other leading construction industry associations to draft AS 11000. AS 11000 i...

In this episode of our podcast series, we meet Alex Hartmann, Partner at Baker & McKenzie, who presented at the recent Society of Construction Law Australia National Conference. The Conference brought together lawyers and construction industry professionals to discuss ‘Building Australia’s Future.’ Alex presented on what happens to office waste when offices are stripped out.  There are 25,000 tonn...

In this episode of our podcast series, we meet Kiri Parr, Regional Legal Counsel, Arup, who presented at the recent Society of Construction Law Australia National Conference. The Conference brought together lawyers and construction industry professionals to discuss ‘Building Australia’s Future.’ Kiri speaks on the significant challenges of delivering successful projects and looks at some of the co...

In this episode, we meet Ashley Brinson, Executive Director of the Warren Centre. Ashley delivered the keynote address at the recent Society of Construction Law Australia National Conference. The Conference brought together lawyers and construction industry professionals to discuss ‘Building Australia’s Future.’ Ashley speaks on the innovation of opportunities, and looks at how can we improve and...

In this introductory episode, we introduce you to the Society of Construction Law Australia podcast. The Society provides a forum for industry participants and thought leaders to connect and together initiate positive change in the construction industry for the benefit of the construction industry and public as a whole by influencing changes to legislation, policy and practice. Be sure to subscrib...