Richard Crawford |Partner

Richard acts in construction disputes for property development and large-scale infrastructure projects. Richard's expertise includes adjudications and court challenges involving the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999. As a litigator, he regularly conducts proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Richard also participates in most of the popular alternate dispute resolution procedures including arbitration, mediation, conciliation and expert determination.

Richard is an experienced defence procurement lawyer having acted for both the Department of Defence and contractors to the defence industry. The projects that Richard has acted on include both infrastructure projects and defence platform procurement. Infrastructure projects that Richard has been involved in include accommodation procurement by the PPP procurement methodology and other specific defence infrastructure such as the Helicopter Underwater Escape Training facility. Platform procurement projects in clued helicopter and heavy vehicle transport procurement.

Richard has wide ranging experience of the Energy and Resources gained from working on projects spanning the globe. These projects include wind farms in France, power stations in Spain, the UK and Australia, mineral sand roasting plants in Mozambique, alumina refining projects in Western Australia and gold crushing plants in Queensland.

Richard is an expert in advising in respect of the application of the relevant home building legislation through-out Australia. This includes traditional domestic construction, how the relevant legislation effects the large scale residential developments and high-rise residential construction, the application to retirement and aged care facilities and the builder licensing requirements in each of the jurisdictions. Richard has been involved in a number of projects that involve co-ordinating advice in respect of multiple jurisdictions throughout Australia concerning residential construction.

Richard has dealt widely in major government and privately financed infrastructure projects, both in Australia and the United Kingdom. An experienced construction and PPP lawyer, his project work spans hospitals, schools, prisons, roads, rail and sports and leisure centres. He has negotiated project documentation including project agreements, direct agreements, sub-contracts (including design and build contracts, facilities management contracts and IT contracts), appointments, collateral warranties, parent company guaranties, performance bonds and subcontractor interface agreements.

A highly credentialed PPP and PFI lawyer, Richard has advised on infrastructure projects in Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland. In the UK, Richard negotiated project documentation on PFI projects for schools, colleges, hospitals, prisons, defence, roads, rail and sports and leisure centres, including the London Underground PPP and the University College London Hospital. His Australian PPP projects include social infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and prisons as well as road and rail projects including Long Bay Prison Hospital, Victorian Schools Project, SEQ Schools Project and Lane Cove Tunnel.

An experienced construction lawyer, Richard is well versed in security of payment issues within the building and construction industry. He has acted in a number of adjudications and court challenges involving the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999, as well as adjudications under the relevant Security of Payment legislation in most Australian jurisdictions. Richard edits Minter Ellison's annual national review of developments in the security of payments area, and is considered an expert in the field, speaking at both SOCLA and IAMA functions on the topic.