Tom Francis

Tom developed his technical skills as a site engineer. He has worked across the process, building, and civil engineering sectors in both a project planning and expert witness capacity. Tom has been appointed as expert witness, working alongside leading legal teams in negotiation, adjudication, arbitration, and litigation proceedings.

Tom is experienced in prospective (live) project planning and delay analysis using appropriate prospective delay analysis techniques. For projects in delayed completion, Tom is experienced in forensic analysis of the factual matrix to determine the most appropriate retrospective delay analysis methodology to adopt. This experience includes drafting CPR-35 compliant expert reports on delay and disruption suffered and in supporting the ADR / litigation proceedings thereafter.

Tom is an accredited and practicing Member of the Academy of Experts (MAE), Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building (FCIOB), Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and Fellow of the Association of Cost Engineers (FACostE). He also holds an MSc in Construction Law and Dispute Resolution from UCLAN and BA (Hons) in Building Management and Technology from The University of Liverpool.

Tom has experience and knowledge of working under all different types of contracts within building and civil engineering projects, including, JCT, NEC, ICE, FIDIC, IChemE and bespoke. He also regularly provides training to large contracting companies on JCT and NEC forms of standard contracts.

Tom’s professional experience includes:

• Appointed as a delay expert advising the main contractor on a £20 million dispute relating to a laboratory project under an NEC3 form of contract.
• Appointed as a delay expert by the contractor relating to a £15 million extension of time dispute under an NEC4 form of contract.
• Appointed as delay expert on a £multi million NEC3 nuclear power plant dispute.
• Appointed as a delay analyst by the contractor on a European subsea gas line for a €50 million dispute under a bespoke form of contract.
• Appointed as a delay expert to a multi-party dispute (client, contractor, project manager, design team) in the Technology and Construction Court (TCC). Dispute related to a complex refurbishment. Settled pre-trial following a mediation.
• Appointed as a delay analyst by the contractor on a $10 million dispute associated with a high-rise hotel and residential fit out in Dubai under a FIDIC (Red) form of contract.
• Appointed as a delay analyst on various Energy from Waste (EfW) and Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) disputes in the order of £20 million to £40 million.
• Appointed as a delay analyst by the contractor on a £10 million dispute associated with specialist systems on a major sports stadium under a bespoke form of contract.
• Appointed as a delay analyst by the contractor in relation to a £20 million dispute on an offshore windfarm under a bespoke form of contract.
• Appointed as a delay expert by the employer for a £10 million high-rise cladding refurbishment dispute under a bespoke form of contract.
• Appointed as a delay expert by the employer in relation to a £10 million extension of time and liquidated damages counter claim on a residential JCT Design & Build project.
• Appointed as a delay analyst by the contractor relating to a £25 million value refurbishment in London. Assessment of COVID-19 delay and disruption factors on the remaining works.
• Appointed as a delay expert by the employer relating to a professional negligence claim against a structural engineer under a bespoke appointment (Office development).
• Appointed as a delay expert by the contractor relating to a £17 million hotel refurbishment dispute under a JCT form of contract.
• Appointed as a delay expert by the contractor relating to a £8 million dispute upstream (to employer) and downstream (to subcontractors) under a JCT standard form of contract.
• Appointed as a delay expert by the contractor on a £4 million delay dispute relating to a floating roof storage tank project under a FIDIC (Yellow) form of contract.

In addition to his delay experience, Tom has worked in a project planning / project controls capacity on major infrastructure projects including a pharmaceutical site in Belgium, airports in England and Ireland, as well as a stadium in England.