Back to GuidesSeries 1

    Guide to Construction Expert Evidence

    A twenty-part series on how evidence is taken, tested and presented in construction arbitration seated in the UAE and wider GCC, with particular attention to DIAC proceedings and the DIFC Courts.

    20 of 20 parts published

    1. 1Construction Expert Evidence in Arbitration: Why the Rules of Evidence Decide the CaseAlmost every construction, infrastructure, or energy arbitration turns, at the point of decision, on expert evidence.Garry Andrews4 min readDispute Resolution
    2. 2Common Law and Civil Law Approaches to Construction Evidence in DIAC and DIFC-Seated ArbitrationsInternational construction arbitration is, by design, a meeting point of legal traditions.Garry Andrews4 min readDispute Resolution
    3. 3The IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence and Their Application to Construction Expert ReportsThe IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration, most recently revised in 2020, are the closest thing international construction arbitration has to a common evidentiary rulebook.Garry Andrews4 min readDispute Resolution
    4. 4The Prague Rules and Construction Arbitration: A Leaner Alternative for Technical DisputesLaunched in December 2018, the Rules on the Efficient Conduct of Proceedings in International Arbitration — universally known as the Prague Rules — were conceived as a civil law-influenced counterpoint to the common law-inflected IBA...Garry Andrews4 min readDispute Resolution
    5. 5Ethical Boundaries for Construction Experts and Counsel in the Taking of EvidenceConstruction arbitration places party-appointed experts in a position of structural tension: engaged and paid by one side, yet owing an overriding duty of independence to the tribunal.Garry Andrews4 min readDispute Resolution
    6. 6Selecting Arbitrators for Construction Disputes: Evidence-Handling Style as a Selection CriterionParties selecting a co-arbitrator, or agreeing a chair, for a DIAC-seated construction dispute typically focus first on subject-matter expertise and general arbitration experience.Garry Andrews4 min readDispute Resolution
    7. 7Planning an Efficient Evidentiary Procedure for Complex Construction ArbitrationsThe single procedural decision with the greatest influence on the cost and duration of a construction arbitration is not made at the hearing — it is made at the first case management conference, when the tribunal and parties agree the...Garry Andrews4 min readDispute Resolution
    8. 8Evidentiary Objections in Construction Arbitration: Grounds, Timing and TacticsObjecting to a document request, a witness question, or an aspect of expert testimony is a routine feature of construction arbitration, but poorly timed or poorly grounded objections can do more damage to a party's credibility with the...Garry Andrews4 min readDispute Resolution
    9. 9Standards of Proof for Quantum in Construction Disputes: Civil Law Perspectives Relevant to the UAEProving quantum in a construction dispute is rarely a matter of arithmetic certainty.Garry Andrews4 min readQuantum and Cost
    10. 10Document Disclosure in Construction Arbitration: Redfern Schedules and ProportionalityDocument disclosure is, by most practitioners' account, the most contested procedural phase of a construction arbitration — and for good reason.Garry Andrews4 min readDispute Resolution
    11. 11E-Disclosure and Technology-Assisted Review in Large Construction Document SetsLarge infrastructure and energy projects routinely generate document sets running into the hundreds of thousands, or millions, of individual items once emails, common data environment records, BIM model logs, and site management software exports are accounted for.Garry Andrews3 min readDispute Resolution
    12. 12Data Privacy and Cybersecurity in Construction Arbitration Evidence ManagementConstruction arbitrations increasingly involve cross-border transfer of large volumes of electronic evidence — project records, personnel data embedded in correspondence and HR-linked site attendance systems, and financial data — between counsel, experts, and the tribunal located in different jurisdictions.Garry Andrews3 min readDispute Resolution
    13. 13Best Practices for Presenting Quantum Evidence in Construction ArbitrationA technically sound quantum analysis can still fail to persuade a tribunal if it is poorly instructed, poorly presented, or insufficiently transparent about its own assumptions.Garry Andrews3 min readQuantum and Cost
    14. 14Taking Evidence from State and Government Entities in UAE Construction DisputesA substantial share of major infrastructure, energy, and transport projects in the UAE and the wider GCC involve a government entity, state-owned enterprise, or government-linked developer as employer.Garry Andrews3 min readDispute Resolution
    15. 15Special Mechanisms for Obtaining Evidence in Cross-Border Construction DisputesThe tribunal's power to order document production binds the parties to the arbitration agreement, but construction disputes frequently require evidence held by subcontractors, design consultants, project managers, insurers, or joint venture partners who are not themselves parties to the arbitration.Garry Andrews3 min readDispute Resolution
    16. 16Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Construction Expert EvidenceArtificial intelligence tools are moving from a peripheral efficiency aid to a genuine feature of how construction expert evidence is prepared, reviewed, and increasingly tested, in DIAC and other regional arbitrations.Garry Andrews3 min readDispute Resolution
    17. 17Evidencing Force Majeure and Changed Circumstances in Construction ContractsForce majeure and changed circumstances claims have become significantly more prominent in construction disputes since 2020, driven by pandemic-related disruption, supply chain volatility, and regional geopolitical events affecting materials and logistics.Garry Andrews3 min readDelay and Disruption
    18. 18Presenting Technical Evidence in Briefs: Building a Decision-Ready Narrative for Construction TribunalsA construction arbitration submission that organises the evidence into a clear, decision-ready narrative is far more persuasive than one that simply recites it chronologically.Garry Andrews3 min readDispute Resolution
    19. 19The Potential Liability of Construction Experts for False or Misleading TestimonyParty-appointed experts in construction arbitration owe an overriding duty of independence to the tribunal, but the practical consequences of breaching that duty — and, in more serious cases, of providing knowingly false or recklessly misleading testimony — are less frequently discussed than the duty itself.Garry Andrews3 min readDispute Resolution
    20. 20Methods for Presenting Construction Expert Evidence: Reports, Hot-Tubbing and Oral TestimonyThis final instalment closes the series by examining the actual mechanics through which construction expert evidence reaches the tribunal — the written report, the joint statement, and the oral hearing itself — and how the choice between traditional sequential cross-examination and increasingly common expert conferencing (hot-tubbing) formats affects the quality and efficiency of technical evidence-testing in construction disputes..Garry Andrews3 min readDispute Resolution
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