Paul Gerard Taggart - DB Chambers

Partner Construction CS LLP

Telephone: +39 347 8611 348
Email: paul@constructioncsllp.com
Address: Via San Damaso 49, 00165 Rome, Italy

Overview

Paul has a career spanning 45 years. He focuses on adjudication and arbitration in complex engineering and construction infrastructure and building projects. He trained and qualified in the UK as a Chartered quantity surveyor specialising in contract administration and claim management initially in project based and consultant roles and latterly in management, and then as a dispute resolver (avoidance and decision maker) for large scale technical and contractual construction disputes. His practice is largely international where has accrued over 35 years residing and practicing predominantly in civil law jurisdictions.

His experience includes acting as Director of Contract Administration and Dispute Resolution – Global Operations, for Tier 1 European constructors. He has also received instructions as an adjudicator and arbitrator in Europe, Africa, Middle East, South Asia, Austral-Asia and the Americas. He is listed on the FIDIC Presidents List of Approved Adjudicators and similar organisations in Europe, Far East and PR China and has experience of utilising FIDIC, UNCITRAL, ICC, QICCA and bespoke procedural rules.

Project experience includes the Channel Tunnel Project, the 2nd Bosphorus Bridge and connecting motorways, the 3rd set of Locks for the Panama Canal, the Xiaolangdi Multi-Purpose Dam and major hydro schemes in the Middle East, Africa, and Australia, and the grade separated Burj Kalifa “First Interchange“ in Dubai. Paul has also experience on a range of other infrastructure projects in multiple jurisdictions including rail, metro, bridges, energy, ports and high end architectural buildings, engaging the use of unit price, D&B, EPC, Target Cost and PPP contract arrangements.

He is a visiting lecturer in Contract and Claim Management at Politecnico di Milano, and a Past President of the DRBF Executive Committee.

In summary, DB and adjudication experience includes:

Acting as party representative on some 40+ DB’s and 15 arbitrations (ICC, UNCITRAL, DBCAB, ICSID).
Acting as a sole DB, member, chair on approximately 40 DB’s.
Acting as an expert in expert determination.
Enforcement of DB decisions and arbitral awards.
Acting as party representative in mediation, expert determination, and arbitration.
Acting as a party representative in multiple construction disputes and settlement negotiations.
Acting as an expert witness in arbitration.

Country Experience

PR China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Poland, France, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Turkey, UK, Kosovo, France, Slovakia, Latvia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Egypt, Lebanon, UAE, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Namibia, Rwanda, Mozambique, RSA, Lesotho, Canada, USA, Argentina, Costa Rica, Panama.

Languages Spoken – English

Academic Qualifications

BSc. in Quantity Surveying (GCU).
Post Graduate Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration (with Distinction) (QMUL).
Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (SGBS).

Professional Qualifications

Member, Royal Institute of Chartered, UK
Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK

Professional Memberships

Member, Dispute Resolution Board Foundation
Member, Society of Construction Arbitrators, UK
Member, Adjudication Society, UK
Member, Society of Construction Law, UK

Previous Professional Appointments

Past President, Dispute Resolution Board Foundation Executive Committee.
Past President, Dispute Resolution Board Foundation, Region 2.
Member DRBF, Election Committee (ongoing).

Panel Listings

FIDIC President‘s List of Approved Dispute Adjudicators, Switzerland (2009).
CIETAC Approved Adjudicator and Arbitrator , PR China.
AIAC Approved List of Arbitrators and Adjudicators (formerly KLRCA), Malaysia.
Camera di Milano Italy, DRB Experts List.
Tender Appeals Adjudicator – Millennium Challenge Corporation, USA.

Lecturing and Teaching

Visiting Lecturer in Claim and Contract Management – Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
DRBF training modules.
Training and seminars on Dispute Boards and FIDIC Contracts carried out on behalf of the DRBF at multiple venues.
Speaker at FIDIC and ICC/FIDIC events.
Speaker at Adjudication Society.
Speaker at Society of Construction Arbitrators.
Paul delivers training workshops, conferences and seminars in Dispute Avoidance and Resolution, and Dispute Boards under FIDIC and ICC rules and has given seminars in the UK, USA, Europe, South Africa, Eastern Europe, South America, and the Middle and Far East and Australia.

Project Experience

Building Services – Communications
Building Services – Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning
Building Services – Lighting & Electrical
Civil Engineering – Bridges: Suspension, Cable Stayed, Balanced Cantilever, Incremental Launch Viaducts, Pre & Post Stressed Concrete Bridges, Box Girder
Civil Engineering – High Speed Rail
Civil Engineering – Hydropower Dams & Spillways, Water Storage Reservoirs (Zoned Earth, Rockfill, Concrete, RCC), Power Channels
Civil Engineering – Land Drainage & Dewatering
Civil Engineering – Light Rail (At Grade & Elevated)
Civil Engineering – Metro (Including Tunnelling, Piling & Diaphragm Walling)
Civil Engineering – River & Flood Control
Civil Engineering – Roads & Bridges, Complex Grade Separated Interchanges & Elevated Expressways, Site Investigation
Civil Engineering – Roads, Hot & Cold Climate Extremes Roads
Civil Engineering – Site Investigation
Construction – National University
Construction – Hospitals
Construction – Industrial
Construction – National Bank

Construction – National Library & Concert Hall Facilities
Construction – Residential, Office Towers
Construction – Shopping Mall, Commercial & Retail
Construction – Sports Stadium
Defence – Military Airfield & SAR Facilities
Energy – Grid Distribution (Marine & Land), Switchyards
Energy – Hydropower Francis & Kaplan Turbines
Energy – Nuclear (Waste Storage)
Energy – Pumped Storage Schemes
Irrigation And Land Reclamation
Marine – Canal Locks
Marine – Coastal Engineering & Ferry Terminal
Marine – Ports
Marine – Submersible Tunnel
Oil & Gas – Compressor Station & Pipelines
Tunnelling – NATM, D&B & TBM (Hard, Soft, MF)
Tunnelling – Micro Tunnelling, Pipe-Jacking Communications & Rabies Control
Tunnelling – Powerhouse Complexes, Shafts (Vertical & Inclined)
Tunnelling – Sub-Sea Rail Tunnels Including, Trackwork, Catenary, Signaling & Communications, Rabies Control, And Terminals & Road Infrastructure
Water – Sewerage Treatment Plants
Water – Water Supply & Environmental

Experiences as a DB

Chair of DB for high-end national public sector development in the Middle East.
Chair of DB for high speed rail link in northern Europe.
Chair of DB for metro project in a major Far East city.
Chair of DB for underground hydro project in South Asia.
Chair of DRB for performance based road rehabilitation and maintenance project in Africa.
Chair of DB for BRT project in a major African city.
Chair of DB for Road Rehabilitation and Construction in Africa.
Chair of DB for Water Supply Project, Black Sea Region
Member of DB for North-South motorway corridor in South East Europe.
Member of DB for tunneling project in Africa.
Member of DRB for a metro project in the Nordics.
Member of DB for Hydro Project(s) in Africa.
Member of DAB for power transmission line(s) in Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Black Sea Region.
Member of DB for a major inner city commuter rail project in Asia/Europe.
Member of CAP panel for an underground transport network in the UK.
Member of DB for marine and land power cables in Europe.
Member of DB for JV dispute, submersible tunnel in Asia/Europe
Sole Member DB for balanced cantilever bridge project in Eastern Europe.
Sole Member DB for hotel (sub-structure works) in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Sole Member DB/DRB for road rehabilitation project(s) in North and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Sole Member DB for expressway construction in Asia Minor, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Eastern Europe.
Sole Member DB for port(s) in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in the Middle East.
Sole Member DB for hydro project in Central America.
Sole Member DB for rail and bridge rehabilitation project in Eastern Europe.
Sole Member DB for water and sanitation project(s) in Africa.

Experiences as an Arbitrator

QICCA Case No. 9/Arb/2019 (QICCA Rules). Party appointed.
ICC Case No, 24043/AYZ (ICC Rules), Party appointed.

Experiences in Expert Determination

City Expressway by-pass, Africa, party representative.
Airport metro link, Australia, party representative.
Expert Determiner (EOT & Quantum) for High Speed Rail, Middle East, panel listed.

Publications

Dispute Boards as Pre-Arbitral Tools: Recent Development and Practical Considerations. Kluwer Law Feb. 2015.
http://kluwerarbitrationblog.com/blog/2015/02/28/dispute-boards-as-pre-arbitration-tools-recent-developments-and-practical-considerations/
International Construction Contracts and Dispute Resolution – The Contribution of Dispute Boards (ISBN 978-605-152-350-7).
Dispute Board Rules Currently in Force: A Selective Overview, Comparison and Practical Considerations: Paul Taggart and Yasemin Cetinel: N.Y. Dispute Resol. Lawyer Vol 8 Issue 2 (Summer 2016).
International Arbitration Survey – Driving Efficiency in International Construction Disputes, QMUL & Pinsent Masons (2019) (contributor).
FIDIC Dispute Avoidance and Adjudication Forum, Practice Note I, Dispute Avoidance – focusing on dispute boards (2024) (contributor).

Contact Paul Gerard Taggart