Building beyond boundaries: Our Global Construction and Engineering Conference 2025

Key takeaways and resources

This quarter we held our third Global Construction Conference in our London office. This involved 6 insightful and informative panel discussions on topics such as collaborative procurement, ESG in the construction industry, AI – challenges and opportunities, grid connections, proactive dispute avoidance and navigating sanctions and supply chain disruption. Our panels were led by Tom Douglas, Alice Maloney, Joseph Hale, Sacha Bacco, Nick Pinder, and Richard Black and the event was attended by over 80 clients. 

We would very much like to thank you to our speakers for the informative discussions sharing their expertise, knowledge and experiences, our keynote speaker Dame DeAnne Julius, and our valued clients for attending.

Whilst the discussions were subject to the Chatham House Rule, we would like to take this opportunity to share some of our thoughts on the topics and link the resources we have available.

Collaborative Procurement: An international perspective

Collaborative models continue to be an increasingly popular method of procurement, and with the increased investment in complex infrastructure projects it is clear that collaboration and working together is very much needed to keep projects on track. Our panel highlighted that what really makes a collaborative approach work is the culture and behavioural approach underpinning the contract, rather than solely the procurement method itself – essentially every project should endeavour to foster mutual trust and collaboration.

Sustainable Building: ESG in the construction industry

Whilst a great deal of focus on ESG is in relation to the environment and what can be done to achieve sustainable buildings and net zero, it is key to also have the social infrastructure in place to help people learn and build skills to be able to successfully deliver sustainable projects. It remains to be seen what legislation will be put in place in the future to help set clear sustainability goals with measurable targets and tangible consequences.

AI in Construction: Challenges and opportunities

AI is having and will continue to have an enormous impact on the construction industry, vastly improving efficiency, productivity, safety and sustainability. However, this is not without its concerns and risks, with careful consideration needed for the future in relation to data security, ethics, workforce adaptation and supply chain management. It is also important to start with a real problem and ignore the tech/products and to use AI to expand what is possible rather than just speed up what already exists. It is better to be curious than to seek perfection. Upskilling your existing workforce is likely to be more useful than trying to pick the perfect AI tool.

Grid Connections: The future of energy projects

Grid connections, in particular the UK reforms, are a hot topic right now. Whilst it’s commonly accepted that something needed to change and the existing grid connection process was flawed, the reforms have been likened to the opening of Pandora’s box and there are a lot of unknowns around the new processes. Securing a grid connection used to be considered one of easier elements of constructing an energy project, however, a lot more thought and planning now needs to be allocated to it. Looking to our European neighbours, we are not alone in the UK with grid issues and grid challenges are a common theme across in other European jurisdictions.

Risk Mitigation in Construction and Engineering projects: Proactive dispute avoidance

One of the key things to help avoid disputes, is to ensure that relationships between the parties are managed proactively and lines of communication remain open. It is also important to ensure that records and documentation are retained and kept up to date, particularly given the detail and complexity involved in large design and build projects. Finally, the panel discussed the importance of understanding your counterparty and getting to know their behaviours and their business – this will be one of the first steps to resolving disputes and maintaining relationships for the future.

International Arbitration: Navigating sanctions and supply chain disruption

The current economic position is driving unpredictable behaviours, which can lead to relationships and trust breaking down in supply chains. International arbitration remains a hugely popular way of resolving such disputes, particularly with the use of expediated processes and emergency relief. It will also be interesting to see what impact the changes introduced by the Arbitration Act 2025 with the aim of making arbitrations quicker and more efficient (such as summary disposal, restricting jurisdictional challenges and emergency arbitrator’s powers) will have on construction projects who have selected London as their arbitral seat.

If you would like any further information on the topics discussed or if you have any new projects or issues that you would like help with, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 View our resources