Dispute Avoidance & Resolution [Collins, Leighton Contractors] 2007-006-EP

Project participants and team members		Rick Collins
Curtin University of Technology	Peter Love, Peter Davis, Robert Lopez, Tom Jasper, Peter Tresise
John Holland Group	Chris Burton
Leighton Contractors	Rick Collins - Project Leader
Qld Dept of Main Roads	Dennis Wogan
Qld Dept of Public Works	Bob Giles, Dayv Carter
RMIT	Ron Wakefield, Nick Blismas, David Jellie, James Harley
Thiess	Ted Williams

Project description

The aim of the project was to identify and communicate to key industry stakeholders recommended change management strategies to avoid dispute between clients, contractors and other industry stakeholders, and where dispute cannot be avoided, to manage disputes more effectively.

The project considered:

factors that currently impede the efficient, productive, timely and cost effective performance of projects, the root causes of disputes and practical strategies to avoid disputes or minimise the impact of disputes.
general magnitude of the direct and indirect costs of disputes to clients, contractors, other industry stakeholders and the community at large.
underlying principles of conflict management in the context of commercial disputes and practical dispute resolution strategies for facilitating the equitable, certain, amicable, timely and cost effective resolution of disputes.

Keith Hampson, Lyn O'Connell and John V. McCarthy AO

The research from this project, focusing on relationships at the contractor/sub-contractor level as well as the head contractor/owner relationship, was used to produce an industry-wide Guide to Best Practice for Dispute Avoidance and Proactive Issue Resolution.

The Guide to Leading Practice for Dispute Avoidance and Resolution was launched by Lyn O'Connell, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government on 17 November 2009.

The Guide, developed by the Australian building and construction industry, is designed to identify and communicate to key industry stakeholders recommended change management strategies to avoid contractual disputes between clients, contractors and other industry stakeholders, and where disputes cannot be avoided, to manage disputes effectively.

This CRC for Construction Innovation’s Dispute Avoidance and Resolution (DAR) research and implementation project found that there are readily available opportunities to improve the performance of construction projects that could annually deliver an additional $7 billion of value to the Australian economy.

The following publications and documents are available to download:

Guide to Leading Practice for Dispute Avoidance and Resolution

Guide to Leading Practice for Dispute Avoidance and Resolution: An overview

Dispute Avoidance and Resolution (literature review)

Causal Ascription of Disputes (report)

Strategies for Dispute Avoidance (report)

An exploratory study of project dispute pathogens (journal article)

Systemic View of Dispute Causation (journal article)

Nature of Defects: Ratio Legis (journal article)

Dispute Avoidance and Resolution (DAR) Project Communication and Change Management Strategy (presentation)

Causal Modelling of Construction Disputes (refereed conference paper)

For additional information please email P.Scuderi@qut.com.