Clarke Willmott LLP

Construction

James is an experienced construction solicitor. He qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales in 1999. After working for a leading firm in Birmingham, he emigrated to Australia and qualified as a solicitor in Queensland in 2003, working in both Brisbane and Sydney. In 2008, James relocated to the Middle East and worked at a major law firm in the United Arab Emirates and at one of the region’s Government backed master developers. He returned to his native Wales in 2014 and was a partner at Acuity Law in Cardiff. James joined Clarke Willmott in October 2024 and has been ranked both in Chambers and in the Legal 500.

How James can help you

James specialises in non contentious construction matters, largely related to city regeneration, and has worked on various developments comprising, office blocks, apartments, hotels and sports stadia. James has experience of working with standard form building contracts such as the JCT and NEC suites and, through his time in the Middle East, has extensive experience of working with the FIDIC contracts. James also has significant experience of acting for banks and funds providing development finance and has also acted on numerous residential development projects.

James has extensive experience of drafting and negotiating development agreements, building contracts, consultant appointments, collateral warranties and other related documents including, for example, letters of intent and letters of reliance.

James also has extensive experience of acting for banks providing finance for construction projects and has worked on numerous funded developments in Wales and further afield.

Experience

James’s recent reported cases:

• Acting on behalf of a developer in respect of the development of a new Welsh headquarters for a national broadcaster comprising new offices, television and radio studios and a roof garden. The project had a construction cost of circa £60 million.
• Acting on behalf of the developer of a new mixed use transport interchange in Cardiff containing various sections comprising an office block, a residential apartment tower, a bus station with an external turning and parking apron and commercial space with a value of circa £100,000,000.
• Acting on behalf of a Cardiff based developer in respect of the refurbishment of the old Post Office in Cardiff and its reconfiguration, extension and conversion into the city’s newest 4 star hotel. The value of the project was circa £40,000,000.
• Acting on behalf of a Cardiff based developer in respect of the design and construction of Wales’ largest office block with a build value of circa £60,000,000.
• Acting on behalf of a Welsh Housing Association in the design and construction of a new build residential apartment block in Swansea with a value of circa £30,000,000.
• Acting for a sub-contractor and advising on the sub-contract terms and conditions in relation to a sub-contract package for the construction of the new national stadium for the English Football Association in Wembley, North London;
• Drafting and negotiating a design and build contract based on the 1999 FIDIC Yellow Book for the design and construction of a marina to be built by one of Dubai’s master property developers.
• Acting on behalf of one of Wales’s largest funding institutions in respect of a circa £75,000,00 development facility in respect of the construction of approximately 800 new homes in Cardiff.