Building Tomorrow

Is the Australian industry’s Standard Form broken? If so, why and can it be fixed? The training and learning involved to build confidence in a new industry contract should be considered when making changes. Scott Alden presents his talk “When opportunity knocks: Is NEC4 the Answer to Australia’s Broken Standard form ?” This talk was voted by attendees as one of the Top 3 highlights of our national...

The past, present and future of collaborative contracting models. One of the audience-selected highlights of our national conference “Getting Risk Right”, held in Hobart, Tasmania in May 2022. Sean Kelly and Yazmin Judd focus on the results of an anonymous industry survey which was completed by public and private sector employees, lawyers, engineers, consultants, contractors and subcontractors. Se...

An exercise in highly paid lawyers dancing on the head of a pin. We deep dive into the roles the law, the lawyers and the courts played in this scandal. This wasn’t a case of a few bad apples, the whole system was stacked against the Subpostmasters. The system silenced, suppressed and hid information and nothing like justice was achieved. At some point the overriding duty to the court owed by lawy...

In the opening I introduced that the Horizon software was the main deliverable of a billion pound PFI project let by the Post Office. The contract was awarded in May 1996 to Fujitsu who won the job because of their winning offer to bear the software development costs in exchange for 8 years guaranteed transaction fee every time a customer of the Department of Social Service used their new swipe ca...

The UK Post Office Scandal – Megaprojects, IT Systems and the Law This story is about the most widespread miscarriage of justice in English history. The scale of this story exceeds the witch trials of the 16th and 17th century. This story is relevant to every construction lawyer in Australia because it is a story rooted in how we deliver major projects, how we think about technology and its reliab...

Valuable insights into the health and wellbeing of those working in the Australian construction industry and what legal practitioners can do to improve the status quo. Dr. Natalie Galea presents the keynote for our 2022 national conference “ Getting Risk Right”, held in Hobart, Tasmania in May 2022. Fully titled “I would like to see my son more than I see my site manager: tackling human rights ris...

For those who missed it, this podcast is a recording of our recent webinar featuring Kiri Parr, Tony Barry and Rob Nelson-Williams. In it, they discuss the internationally renowned and widely used FIDIC suite of Contracts and their potential for wider adoption in Australia. This podcast is for reference purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. You s...

Jon Davies, CEO of the Australian Constructors Association, discusses the significant challenges facing the construction industry and ACA's plan to help fix them. --- This podcast is for reference purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. You should always obtain legal advice about your specific circumstances. The views expressed in these podcasts ar...

Lucy Greenwood, international arbitrator, diversity champion and green arbitration advocate shares her insights on the impact of arbitration on the environment and how we can drive sustainable change. In this episode, Melissa Yeo, Chair of the Society's Communications Sub-committee, sits down with Lucy Greenwood to discuss arbitration, its impact on the environment and how we can drive sustainable...

This episode is Part 2 of Melissa Yeo's discussion with Petrina Macpherson and Matthew Hickey on eHearings and eMediations and why they have given us all #onemorethingtothinkabout   This podcast is for reference purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. You should always obtain legal advice about your specific circumstances. The views expressed in th...

In this podcast, Melissa Yeo sits down with Petrina Macpherson of Minter Ellison and Matthew Hickey of Level Twenty Seven Chambers to discuss eHearings and eMediations and why they have given us all #onemorethingtothinkabout This podcast is for reference purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. You should always obtain legal advice about your specif...

In this podcast, Aiden Davey, Dr Matthew Bell and Kiri Parr sit down with Melissa Yeo to discuss the new duty of care introduced in the NSW Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 and the significant consequences it might have on the construction industry.  This podcast is for reference purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. You should always o...

They say if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  In the current landscape that means putting your valuable data in the hands of criminals.  In this podcast, Brendan Read and Vishka Peiris of Korda Mentha discuss Cyber Hygiene during Covid-19. Brendan is a former detective from the Queensland Police High Tech Crime Investigation Unit.  He is highly experienced in investigating criminal and civil ma...

A practical summary of what was, is and might be when it comes to securing payment for construction projects of all sizes and at all stages of development in the era of COVID-19. Presented in the SoCLA webinar by Matthew Hickey and Bianca Kabel of Level Twenty Seven Chambers in Brisbane, Australia. This podcast is for reference purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be r...

Stephen Callaghan of Stephen Callaghan Consulting Pty Ltd sits down with Melissa Yeo to discuss Dispute Resolution Boards, how they work, what parties can expect and why they are likely to become more popular in the future. The Society is working hard to bring you regular podcasts so be sure to subscribe to the SCL Australia Podcast to be alerted when new episodes become available.  We hope you en...

Insights into construction contracts, risk management and how to deliver a successful project. Kevin Pascoe, engineer and the Principal Project Manager, APAC Building and Infrastructure for Jacobs sits down with Melissa Yeo, Chair of SoCLA's Communications Sub-Committee. Kevin's career spans 25 years and includes projects in Australia and around the world. His paper, "Incorporating Active Risk Man...

If you have ever wondered whether your construction Contract can be varied by what happens on site, or how contractor claims are treated and whether your entire agreement clause is effective; this episode is for you. Michael Trim and Claire Schneider of Level Twenty Seven Chambers share their insights on these questions as well as recent developments in the law at an event which took place on 7 Au...

On Melbourne Cup Day in November 2017, the Society was fortunate to have Adrian Hughes QC of 39 Essex Chambers in London, attend to share lessons from success and failure in major construction projects including the New Berlin Airport, the Scottish Parliament and Wembley Stadium. The breakfast event, kindly hosted by Corrs Chambers Westgarth, drew a large crowd of industry professionals who gather...

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...