Chris Holwell

Chris heads the Freeths Construction & Engineering team. His expertise is particularly in relation to the front-end: advising on how construction and engineering projects should be procured and delivered; drafting and negotiating the contracts; working with his clients to secure their interests whilst making sure that everyone else involved in the project gets what they need so that the project can go ahead to successful delivery.

He works for employers/clients, contractors, consultants, sub-contractors, funders, investors and occupiers. His experience covers retail, aviation, hotels, warehousing and logistics, PRS/BTR, student accommodation, public realm and infrastructure projects, amongst others. He works constantly with JCT, NEC and MF/1 contracts but also many other standard forms and plenty of bespoke contracts.

After completing a law degree at Jesus College, Cambridge and the Solicitors’ Final Examination, Chris started his career with two year articles at Wragge & Co (now part of Gowling WLG), where he stayed for a further two years after qualification. He then spent 7 years at Eversheds before joining Freeths in 2000 as the second partner (and first non-contentious partner) in Freeths’ new 4 person Construction team, then part of the Real Estate Department. It has been a source of great satisfaction to see the team grow to around 30 staff and become a separate Construction & Engineering Department.