Hello and welcome to our blog, the first in a regular series we intend to run on our website from now on and which we will update regularly.

The aim of these blogs is to provide you with short updates on topical legal or other issues in the industry, to share our opinions on a wide variety of subjects and to engage with you and share thoughts and ideas on these various matters through the comments facility.

2017 looks set to be an exciting year in the industry, with the continuing uncertainty surrounding Brexit hopefully creating opportunities for us all, although I am sure it will bring a number of challenges too. We will keep you updated on how developments around this important issue affect the work we do.

" The aim of these blogs is to provide updates on topical legal or other issues in the industry, to share our opinions, thoughts and ideas on these various matters through the comments facility. "

The Courts will continue to issue judgments dealing with a wide variety of issues, one of which is likely to remain adjudication. We will comment on how parties keep trying to find new ways to avoid complying with adjudicator’s decisions and how the Courts view these strategies and arguments. We will also be writing on other forms of dispute resolution, including dispute review boards and international arbitration.

The new JCT 2016 suite of contracts was introduced towards the end of last year, and we will be writing on discrete and, in our view, important changes and clauses you will need to be aware of. We will also be writing about the NEC, FIDIC and other widely used construction and engineering contracts.

My colleagues Jonathan More and Robbie McRae will regularly join me in updating this blog with their thoughts on topical and important issues.  We will also have contributions from my other colleagues from time to time.

I hope you will enjoy reading these blogs, which we hope you will find thought provoking, and that you will engage with us to discuss your thoughts and ideas on what we have written.