Construction Law and Dispute Resolution

Entry requirements

• A lower second honours degree in a construction or law related discipline, or equivalent, is required for direct entry onto the Master’s programme
• A Postgraduate Certificate in construction or law related discipline, or equivalent subject with a minimum of grade C in all modules.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Fully accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, this course provides a comprehensive study of both legal principles and construction contracting practice and procedures.

This course will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the legal framework within which construction organisations and projects are managed, including the resolution of disputes that arise. There is now a greater need than ever before for people with knowledge and skills in dispute avoidance and dispute resolution, and this situation will continue to increase due to the developing technical, organisational and financial complexity of today’s projects.

Reflecting the diversity of working experience within the industry, the course is designed to appeal to students from a wide range of professional callings, eg. civil engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, building surveyors, building services engineers and solicitors. The sheer breadth of the subject makes postgraduate study the only feasible way of providing the in-depth and systemic understanding of the fundamental issues required to cope with such a constantly changing field.

What happens on the course?

You will develop your capabilities to analyse the nature of the risks in construction, general strategies for allocating them and systems for managing their occurrence.

You will develop your professional skills to be able to interpret contracts and appreciate the controversies surrounding commonly used standards forms of construction contracts. This will involve you gaining techniques for research and enquiry to create and interpret relevant aspects of construction law and contract administration. In addition, you will acquire the skills to review and critically examine the implications of complex construction case law relating this to real world settings.

Overall, the course will prepare you to participate in dispute resolution processes as an advisor to or representative of the parties to the dispute or as an arbitrator, mediator , adjudicator or other related dispute practitioner.

Information for international students

English Language requirements are normally IELTS 6.5 with a minimum of 6.0 in each area (unless otherwise stated) or equivalent accepted qualification.