Emma Healiss

Construction is the core of Emma’s practice. She acts for employers, developers, contractors, consultants, insurers and public bodies in the TCC, in adjudication and in arbitration, across the full range of construction and engineering disputes: defects, fire safety and building safety claims, delay and disruption, payment and final accounts, termination and PFI disputes, and commercial claims arising out of construction and infrastructure contracts. She is instructed both as sole counsel and as junior to leading silks, and is as comfortable running a TCC trial alone as working in a large team on a multi-million pound dispute. Selected highlights include:

• Acting in substantial multi-party TCC claims (£1m to £200m+) under the Defective Premises Act 1972 and the Building Safety Act 2022 arising out of structural and fire safety defects, including claims against contractors and design consultants.
• Acting in applications for remediation contribution orders under the Building Safety Act 2022 in the First-tier Tribunal. 
• Acting for an NHS Trust in a £160m PFI dispute concerning fire-stopping and passive fire protection defects at two major hospitals.
• Acting as junior counsel to bereaved families, survivors and former residents in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.
• Acting as sole counsel for the successful defendant in a two week TCC trial, Mallino Developments Ltd v Essex Demolition Contractors Ltd [2022] EWHC 1418 (TCC).
• Acting for a local authority in a £500m+ dispute concerning termination of an energy-sector PFI contract for contractor default.

Emma is regularly instructed as junior counsel in large-scale international arbitrations concerning energy, oil and gas and major building projects in Africa, the Middle East, Kazakhstan, the UK and Ireland. Highlights include:

• Acting as junior counsel to David Thomas KC for an oil and gas major in relation to the expansion of a supergiant oil field.
• Acting as junior counsel to Simon Hughes KC for a large Italian energy contractor against a Lebanese subcontractor in a €246 million dispute concerning welding defects in an Algerian pipeline.
• Acting as junior counsel to Marcus Taverner KC and Jane Lemon KC in a dispute concerning the delayed construction of a skyscraper in the Middle East.

Adjudication is a major part of Emma’s practice. She acts for referring and responding parties in disputes concerning defects, delay, payment and final accounts, and in enforcement and Part 8 proceedings in the TCC. She is particularly sought after on complex enforcement cases, where questions of jurisdiction, natural justice, the slip rule and the interaction between adjudication and court proceedings arise. Proactive and user-friendly, Emma is happy to run an adjudication from start to finish: she will advise on strategy and timing before the notice is served, draft the notice, referral, response and rejoinder, and see the decision through to enforcement or challenge. She is frequently instructed as sole counsel in multi-million pound adjudications. Highlights include:

• Acting regularly in “smash and grab” and true value adjudications; Emma knows the payment and adjudication provisions of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 inside out, and is frequently asked to advise on the validity of payment and pay less notices and on the strategy for recovering or resisting payment.
• Acting as sole counsel in Croda Europe Limited v Optimus Services Ltd [2021] EWHC 332 (TCC), which concerned the application of the slip rule and the proper interpretation of NEC3 adjudication provisions.
• Acting as junior counsel in a multi-million pound adjudication concerning defective fire protection measures and combustible insulation materials.
• Assisting in a case regarding resisting enforcement of an adjudicator’s decision via concurrent Part 8 proceedings.

Professional negligence is a core part of Emma’s practice and she is ranked for it by both Chambers & Partners and Legal 500, which notes her “notable experience in claims brought against architects and surveyors”. She acts for and against architects, structural, mechanical and electrical engineers, surveyors, approved inspectors and project managers in claims arising from defective design, inspection, certification and contract administration. Much of this work is in large multi-party TCC actions in which the claims against consultants run alongside claims against the contractor and sub-contractors, so that questions of design responsibility, the standard of care, contribution and apportionment are at the heart of the case. Emma is equally at home acting for the claimant developer or employer and for the professional and its insurers, and is regularly instructed by insurers and their panel solicitors. Highlights include:

• Acting for a national residential developer in a portfolio of linked TCC claims worth c.£250m against the structural engineer responsible for the defective design of residential developments across London, raising issues under the Defective Premises Act 1972, the Building Safety Act 2022 and the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978.
• Defending a development manager and client’s representative in a c.£35m TCC claim alleging that it failed to identify and manage fire safety defects in a student accommodation block.
• Representing Lendlease in Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust v Lendlease Construction (Europe) Ltd & Others (the only construction case to feature in The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases of 2022), a c.£80m claim concerning professional negligence allegations against an architect.
• Acting on behalf of a firm of structural engineers in defence of a professional negligence claim relating to a cracking supermarket car park.

Emma has a substantial insurance practice in the construction field. She regularly acts for the National House Building Council (NHBC), the UK’s leading warranty and insurance provider for new and refurbished homes, in claims against builders, developers and personal guarantors, and in disputes over cover and the scope of the policy. She also acts for and against insurers in coverage disputes arising from construction and professional indemnity policies, and in claims brought directly against insurers under the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010.