Nigel E A Ribbands   FRICS, FCIArb, FCInstCES, FCMI, MEWI Practicing Barrister, Chartered Quantity Surveyor,  Chartered Arbitrator and Panel Registered Adjudicator

Qualifications

-  Called to the Bar of England and Wales in March 2017

-  Post Graduate Diploma in Bar Practice (Bar Professional Training Course)¹

-  Post Graduate Diploma in Law (Commendation)²

-  Post Graduate Diploma in Arbitration³
-  Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
-  Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
-  Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors
-  Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute
-  Member of The Expert Witness Institute

Career Overview

Nigel is a Practicing Barrister, Chartered Quantity Surveyor, Chartered Arbitrator and Panel Registered Adjudicator with over thirty five years’ experience of the building and civil engineering industry including UK and international dispute avoidance/resolution techniques. He started his career as a site based Assistant QS and progressed to the role of Commercial Manager/Regional QS representing building and civil engineering construction firms ranging from a specialist sub-contractor to a major national contractor. He has also acted in the role of consultant providing commercial, contractual and dispute resolution services and held the position of Associate Director in a firm of construction contracts and commercial consultants before becoming a Director in one of the UK’s leading and internationally renowned specialists providing forensic quantity surveying, programming and dispute management services. Nigel has a unique blend of experience in commerce, business management and dispute avoidance/resolution for UK and international projects ranging in value to US$ 300 million⁴. He also provided expert opinion evidence on quantity surveying matters⁵ and is listed at the Expert Witness Institute. Nigel is a competent and experienced arbitrator and adjudicator and is appointed to a number of panels including RICS, CIArb⁶, RIBA, CIC, CPA, CEDR Solve (2008)⁷ and named in contracts such as T5 Heathrow. He also passed, at the highest grade, the construction industry adjudicator collaborative training “master class” initiative supported by AICA, CIArb, ICE, RIBA and RICS. Nigel was called to the Bar of England and Wales in March 2017 by The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn and is now a member of 3PB Barristers Construction and Engineering Group (www.3pb.co.uk).

Experience

(i) Technical

Nigel is conversant with the standard forms of contract and sub-contract in use for the building and civil engineering industry together with their associated standard methods of measurement and is experienced in the valuation of complex construction matters. He has represented many clients’ in an advisory and/or testifying expert capacity and given evidence to various tribunals including what is now known as the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts, Technology and Construction Court.

He also has considerable experience of the various forms of dispute resolution techniques regularly adopted in the UK and internationally. Nigel is an accomplished and well respected arbitrator and adjudicator earned by conducting over 100 references on issues such as, contract formation, contract interpretation, repudiation, termination, quality of work, liability for delay, payment notices, valuation of work, interim and final payments, and damages.

(ii) Project Types

Building

New build and refurbishment of industrial and commercial property (warehouses, industrial units and offices), housing, schools, hotels, leisure centres and visitor attractions, pharmaceutical, heavy manufacturing, food processing and distribution facilities, hospitals, restaurants, accommodation blocks, station buildings and specialist suspended ceiling, partition, external render, cladding systems, steelwork, glazing and façade systems.

Civil Engineering

General infrastructure, above and below ground pipelines (clean and dirty water including gravity fed and rising mains), large diameter sewers and culverts, roads, bridges, motorways, water treatment works, major earthworks, railways, airports, inland waterways, tunnelling (raisebore and drill and blast), reinforced concrete structures, marine works, quarrying, refurbishment of concrete motorway bridges, groundworks, golf courses, hard and soft landscaping, lakes and water features, synthetic sports surfaces and tennis, cricket and bowling surfaces.

Notable High Profile Projects

Beirut International Airport – Bishops Square, Spitalfields, London – Ascot Racecourse Redevelopment – The Arena & Conference Centre, Kings Waterfront, Liverpool – Butinge Oil Terminal, Lithuania – T5 Heathrow – Dubai Festival City, UAE – The Sage Music Centre, Gateshead – Media City, Salford Quays – Crossrail, London – The British Museum, London – Project Omega, Northern Ireland. 

Continued Professional Development

Nigel is a committed professional spending many hours developing and expanding his knowledge of the law, dispute resolution procedures and other associated topics. He obtains this information by self study, attending lectures and discussion forums together with reading published papers and articles.

Activities with Professional Bodies

Nigel is an active member of the RICS Construction and Dispute Resolution Professional Groups, Arbrix, the Society of Construction Law, The Adjudication Society, The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, The Arbitration Club and The Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors. Nigel was also a Pupil Master for CIArb and assessor and mentor for the AICA panel of adjudicators. He is also a tutor, examiner and assessor for the RICS Diploma in Adjudication in the Construction Industry and formerly for the CIArb Arbitration and Adjudication Pathway modules. Nigel also volunteers his time to various professional body committees’ and working groups. He is also a Freeman of The Worshipful Company of Arbitrators.

Lectures and Articles

Nigel lectures and gives papers on dispute avoidance and/or resolution topics and has written a number of articles which have been published in the industry technical press.

1 University of Law – Birmingham (2016)

2 Nottingham Trent University Law School (2012)

3 College of Estate Management Reading University (2001)
4 2001 prices
5 Please see for example the landmark case of JDM Accord Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (“DEFRA”) [2004] EWHC 2 (TCC) (16 January 2004)

6 Panel Appointment Certificate for Arbitration and Construction Adjudication
7 Said to be a hand-picked panel of 30 of the UK’s best known and most respected adjudicator

Last Updated May 2019