Simon Lewis
Partner
Contact details
Simon is a Partner in the Construction and Development team at our Southampton office.
Main areas of practice
Simon advises clients in relation to construction disputes. He has experience of resolving disputes through adjudication, arbitration, mediation, and Technology and Construction Court proceedings and acts for a range of employers, main contractors, developers and sub-contractors across a broad range of standard form and bespoke contracts.
Simon also advises clients on the practical steps available during construction and engineering projects to manage / avoid disputes, achieving their commercial objectives in a cost efficient manner.
Clients
Simon has significant experience in assisting freeholders, asset managers, property management companies and commercial tenants with various legal issues arising as a result of fire safety defects being present on their buildings. He regularly advises on the application of the Building Safety Act 2022 and in relation to claims regarding cladding, combustible insulation and fire stopping issues. He has successfully acted for many clients recovering £millions in costs from developers, contractors, insurers and government funds in order to remediate their buildings. He assists clients in navigating the regulatory and legal framework for managing the risk at their building prior to remedial works being carried out.
Simon advises on extension of time claims, final account disputes, defects claims and payment disputes.
Expertise
Career
Simon qualified with the firm in March 2017. He was promoted to Partner in May 2024.
Contact details
Significant Experience
- Advising a multi-national client on a series of adjudications in relation to payment provisions, termination of a subcontractor’s contract and losses arising because of the subcontractor’s failure to progress the works, including successfully defending two smash and grab adjudications.
- Arbitration proceedings for an employer under an IChemE Target Cost Contract for engineering works to a water treatment facility. £3 million in dispute and issues of termination, recovery of LADs and the proper contractual interpretation of a complex target price formula.
- Advising an employer party on a highly prestigious science and research facility in relation to a defects claim, successfully recovering £9mil for the claimant in arbitral proceedings.
- Advising a large institutional client following insolvency of the main contractor during a works, issues of safely securing the site (in an area accessible by the public), protecting the client’s interests as against the insolvent company, follow on claims against a surety provider and assisting with engaging with a replacement contractor.
Insights by Simon
articles
In a hugely significant case, the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) has made an £18million remediation contribution order against a developer, including waking watch costs, under the Building Safety Act 2022....
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New regulations have come into force for higher-risk buildings. On 6 April 2023, the Government introduced the new Higher-Risk Buildings (Key Building Information etc) (England) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/396) ("the...
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Over five years on from Grenfell the Technology and Construction Court (TCC) has made its first judgment on a "cladding" dispute. In this case, the cladding system in question was...
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