Sarah Hannaford KC is a leading commercial barrister whose work spans both the United Kingdom and international markets. She specialises in construction, engineering, infrastructure and energy disputes together with professional negligence work within these areas of expertise. She has also carved out a strong procurement practice in recent years. Sarah was called to the Northern Ireland Bar in 2015.
Sarah is widely regarded as a star of the Procurement Bar and is the natural choice for complex high value procurement issues. She is instructed in the most significant cases in this area, regularly advising Government bodies, local authorities, utilities and industry clients. Sarah has acted in numerous high profile procurement challenges, including the prominent case of NATS v Gatwick Airport, a dispute concerning the tender of air traffic control services. She recently acted for the UK Government in a multi party and high profile dispute relating to the procurement of criminal legal aid services, which was listed by the Lawyer as one of the top cases of 2016.
She is regularly instructed in complex construction and commercial disputes in the UK Courts, adjudication and international arbitration. She has experience in the full range of contractual claims which arise out of construction projects, including claims relating to defects, termination, delay and professional negligence. Recent work has included acting for the Ministry of Justice in relation to electronic monitoring claims against Serco and G4S, and acting for the Secretary of State for Defence in two substantial disputes relating to a nuclear submarine base. She also has considerable expertise in energy, offshore construction and shipping disputes, including acting high profile disputes such as the Solitaire and the Varg.
Sarah has experience in disputes involving most standard form contracts including the JCT standard forms, ICE, NEC, IChemE and FIDIC forms. She also regularly advises on PFI contracts, PPP contracts and facilities management contracts, including both the waste and health sectors.
Sarah is the author of a chapter in Keating on Construction Contracts (10th edition, 2016). She has also authored key publications on party walls and rights of light (another area in which she has considerable expertise). She frequently lectures on topical issues in construction and procurement law.
In addition to her work as Counsel, Sarah sits as arbitrator and is a trained mediator and accredited adjudicator.
