Chris Holwell

Practice Areas

Chris Holwell is National Head of Construction & Engineering at Freeths LLP. His own field of work is non-contentious, advising Employers, Contractors, Consultants, Sub-Contractors, Funders, Purchasers and Tenants in relation to a wide range of construction and engineering projects in both the public and private sectors. His advice covers project structuring as well as advice on the contracts themselves. Regularly advising on NEC, JCT and MF/1 contracts, he also works with IChemE, FIDIC and other standard and bespoke forms of contract. In the building sector he has recently advised on a number of major distribution centres including several in excess of 1m ft² and several aviation sector building projects. In the civils sector he has been working on a number of high-value HS2 related contracts. In the process plant sector he has been advising on contracts for the design, fabrication and installation of materials handling systems and integrated production line systems.

The Freeths Construction Department also includes highly specialised construction disputes lawyers and Chris, as head of department, works very closely with them both generally and in relation to issues on specific projects.

Career

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.

Personal

Chris is a member of his local Church’s governing body and a trustee of three charities (some local almshouses, a grant making fund, and a charity which provides opportunities and encouragement for children and young people to learn and play musical instruments in groups and ensembles). Chris plays the celtic harp (like the one on a glass of Guinness) in the Church’s worship music group every Sunday and is easily the group’s weakest member, but it’s hard to make a nasty noise with a harp so the congregation doesn’t seem to mind. Other interests are ancient history (Greece and Rome) and films. He is married to Charlotte and has three adult children, one of whom is now herself married