Lynne McCafferty KC

Lynne has extensive experience of major construction litigation and arbitration across the globe. Her practice encompasses all types of construction and engineering disputes, from huge infrastructure projects to multi-million pound commercial and residential developments to high-profile PFI projects. Recent projects include factories, museums, hospitals, and a state-of-the-art scientific facility.

Lynne has been instructed as Counsel under a wide range of arbitration rules including ICC, LMAA, LCIA, DIFC, UNCITRAL and DIAC. She has also been appointed as an arbitrator by the ICC and on an ad hoc basis; she has been appointed to a dispute adjudication board; and she is a TECBAR-accredited adjudicator.

Featured Construction & Engineering cases

Representing a major residential developer in two linked DIAC arbitrations worth hundreds of millions of dirhams relating to a huge residential development to design and build 42 residential towers with associated retail spaces and community facilities in Dubai.

Acting for the employer in an HKIAC arbitration worth HK$400 million concerning the design and construction of a pharmaceuticals factory in the New Territories, Hong Kong.

Instructed on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry for a building services engineering firm who was involved in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower. This was the biggest, and one of the most important, public inquiries there has been in the UK with huge ramifications for the whole construction industry.

Lynne has been and is involved in many high-value multi-party TCC claims relating to fire safety defects in cladding systems on residential and mixed-use developments following the Grenfell fire. She has variously acted for the main contractor, the cladding sub-contractor, the fire engineer, and the building services engineer in such claims.

In particular, Lynne represented the cladding sub-contractor in the case of Shepherd Construction Limited v Drytech Façades Ltd, a £70 million claim by the main contractor against 24 defendants for alleged defects in the design and construction of various different cladding systems on a major mixed-use development in Colindale, London. This was one of The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases of 2024. It settled shortly before the 12 week TCC trial.

Acted for the purchaser of an industrial waste management facility in Saudi Arabia in a £90 million ICC arbitration involving allegations of breach of warranty concerning the treatment of hazardous waste and issues of environmental compliance at the new facility.

Acted for the defendant MEP engineer in a £12 million claim in the TCC for multiple alleged defects in the design of a major new oncology wing at St James’s Hospital in Leeds: Lendlease Construction (Europe) Ltd v AECOM Ltd [2023] EWHC 2620 (TCC). This was one of the most important TCC judgments in 2023.

Acted for the defendant in a TCC dispute concerning the design and construction of a bus station in Blackburn: Thomas Barnes & Sons plc v Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council [2022] EWHC 2598 (TCC). This was one of the most notable TCC judgments of 2022 due to the Judge’s determination of the thorny issues of concurrent delay and termination.

Acted for the main contractor in a dispute relating to a £110 million PFI contract to rebuild and refurbish 924 sheltered homes for the elderly across 26 sites in the North-East of England (Solutions 4 North Tyneside Ltd v Galliford Try Building 2014 Ltd [2022] EWHC 2372 (TCC)). The dispute concerned responsibility for remedying widespread defects in the properties’ roofs, the costs of which will run to tens of millions of pounds.

Acted for the contractor on a high-profile and extremely time-critical transport infrastructure project in the Middle East defending a $40 million ICC arbitration claim brought by a sub-contractor in relation to alleged design changes, delay, prolongation, and variations under a bespoke contract modelled on NEC4.

Represented a façade subcontractor in an application in the DIFC Court for an injunction to compel the main contractor to withdraw demands for AED 21 million made under a performance bond and an advance payment bond.

Instructed on the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, a huge public inquiry set up to investigate the design and construction of two major new hospitals where there have been a number of fatalities from rare infections. Lynne is representing the project manager who was engaged during the initial design phase on the £840 million project to design and construct the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

Instructed in a DIFC-LCIA arbitration by an MEP sub-contractor in a claim against a major Middle Eastern contractor relating to the construction of the prestigious New York University in Abu Dhabi. This wide-ranging dispute worth AED 300 million concerned substantial delays, hundreds of variations, and payment disputes.

Instructed in an LCIA arbitration for a leading global contractor claiming for delay and variations worth over $420 million in connection with a $840 million contract to design and construct production facilities to process oil and gas from an oil field in the Middle East.

Instructed by a world-renowned steelwork engineer on a DIAC arbitration worth AED 33 million concerning wide-ranging disputes with its sub-contractor in relation to the steelworks for a high-profile iconic museum project in Abu Dhabi.

Acted for a quasi-public body in a £10 million arbitration claim against a contractor for the costs of replacement of a defective standing-seam aluminium roof on the UK’s national synchrotron, a major scientific facility.

Advised a leading engineering firm on a wide range of technical and legal disputes arising out of the design and construction of a major new hospital in Liverpool, including the insolvency of the main contractor, Carillion.

Instructed by a specialist M&E contractor in multi-party TCC proceedings worth £30 million arising out of the design and construction of a major national data centre facility.

Acted for a major UK contractor in two linked multi-party TCC cases relating to the multi-million pound design and construction of a new acute hospital under a PFI project agreement. The disputes concerned multiple alleged defects in the M&E services installed in the new hospital.

Acted for the employer in a multi-million pound TCC claim against a national contractor for defects in the design and construction of concrete slabs in the docking areas of several distribution centres.

Acted for a local authority on wide-ranging disputes arising out of the construction of a major biological treatment plant by a specialist waste management company, which were played out in multiple adjudications and multi-party TCC proceedings.

Instructed by a specialist piling contractor to defend an adjudication claim arising out of its design and installation of sheet piling during the construction of a high value residential property. The claim turned on evidence from geotechnical engineering experts about the geology and ground conditions at the site.

Instructed by a global design services consultancy in ICC arbitration following termination of a design services agreement under which the Main Contractor was engaged to design, build, and maintain a new underground metro system (including related stations and viaducts) in Dubai.

Instructed by the EPC turnkey contractor on a high-profile international infrastructure contract under a FIDIC form of contract concerning works to construct an undersea railway tube crossing together with associated tunnels, additional stations, and an extension and upgrade of the existing railway and tube networks in Istanbul. Several disputes relating to applications for extensions of time were referred to the DAB.