Tom Collins

Practice Areas

Tom is a Partner and Head of the construction team. He advises clients in both the public and private sector. He is responsible for managing the team nationally and is recommended in the Legal 500 and ranked in Chambers. Clients have said he is "An exceptional lawyer who provides clear and consistent advice. Tom Collins has the ability to deal with complex issues and highly technical matters and translate these into a clear, concise and logical form when presenting a case" that "He gives down-to-earth, practical advice and delivers results” and that “Tom has a combination of encyclopaedic knowledge and reassuring demeanour; he brings his intelligence to the case. In a complex case he would see the wood from the roots. Unflappable!”

Tom has over 20 years' experience in advising on dispute resolution. He regularly advises clients across a broad range of sectors and industry disciplines. He advises in relation to all construction-related disputes including claims for extensions of time, loss and expense, applications for payment, final account disputes and defective works/allegations of negligence with a particular focus on fire safety.

Tom regularly acts in adjudications whether bringing or defending claims ranging from payment disputes and claims for extensions of time to more complex and substantive negligence claims together with being regularly involved with litigation and arbitration. He advises in relation to, and participates in, alternative dispute resolution including mediation.

A large part of Tom's practice is dispute avoidance and as part of that, he regularly provides ongoing day to day strategic project advice with senior-level contacts at client organisations.

In addition, Tom has previous experience of advising on breach of warranty, misrepresentation and injunctive relief claims.

Tom also advises on the drafting of construction agreements. He is familiar with all the major standard forms of contract and advises in relation to amendments to those standard forms. He also advises on the drafting and negotiation of supporting and associated documents such as professional team appointments, collateral warranties and bonds.

Tom delivers training to clients on key issues affecting their business relating to the construction industry. This includes delivering seminars to trade bodies on matters such as building safety, recent case-law and innovation. Tom was invited to speak at the BSI’s Global Built Environment Summit. He has written a number of articles which have been published in key sector publications including in the Construction Law Journal.

Examples of work which Tom has advised on include:

• Advising on a dispute for a US contractor claiming additional payments following the design and construction of an oil platform and on shore and sub-sea pipeline;

• Successfully defending in full a “smash and grab” adjudication

• Acting for a University on a series of claims and adjudications relating to a final account dispute;

• Bringing and defending numerous claims alleging fire safety defects including considerations of the impact of the new Building Safety Act;

• Acting for the successful party in the adjudication and reported adjudication enforcement case of The Metropolitan Borough Council of Sefton v Allenbuild Ltd [2022] EWHC 1443 (TCC) addressing the question of the court’s jurisdiction to enforce an adjudication decision where the parties have elected to resolve disputes through arbitration

• Acting for a claimant company in arbitration on a multi-million pound claim for losses arising out of works on an international infrastructure development;

• Successfully defending in full in adjudication a claim alleging a defective engineering installation together with a substantial claim for consequential losses

• Acting for a client in defence of an adjudication claiming losses of over £1m for alleged negligent design on a highways project and significantly reducing the damages claimed;

• Acting for various public bodies in relation to multi-million pound defects claims;

• Advising in relation to rights and remedies following the discovery of asbestos in a completed public project

• Advising a designer in relation to claimed defects on a PFI project;

• Advising and bringing a claim in adjudication to challenge contra-charges on a transport development project;

• Advising a school on various issues arising out of a multi-million pound build including defects, practical completion and final account settlement;

• Advising a client in relation to risk and the resolution of a multi-party supply chain dispute arising out of the supply of materials for use in a construction project;

• Defending in full an adjudication for substantial extension of time on a complex development and providing the client with day to day project advice in relation to claims for defective works, applications for payment and practical completion;

• Advising on a multi-million pound infrastructure dispute including providing risk advice on contracts and day to day advice to senior management;

• Advising a social housing provider on the drafting of construction documentation arising out of the establishment of a corporate vehicle to undertake property developments on its behalf;

• Advising public bodies on contract terms for flagship building developments;

• Advising a charitable company on the terms of a development agreement for the construction of a new mixed use church and residential units