Capsticks has a market leading team of lawyers that are experts on procurement, transactional construction, contract advisory, project finance and dispute resolution. We provide dedicated support on construction transactions from major hospital design through to development joint ventures and PFI/PPP works variations (and termination). In addition to expertise on template forms of contracts (JCT, NEC, TAC-1) and existing frameworks, we advise on flagship projects including many of those involved in the New Hospital Programme. Project values range from £25m up to £1bn. We also regularly provide pragmatic and cost-effective support on consultant appointments and ancillary matters such as collateral warranties, bonds, guarantees and other security matters.

Our specialist energy team also delivers energy performance contracting support for projects typically between £10m and £20m in value.

Far more than just a “safe pair of hands”, we provide expert but practical advice (risk aware rather than risk averse) and genuine market insight for our clients. This commitment and pragmatism has helped us to form long-standing relationships with many of our key clients; we take pride in supporting clients beyond contract execution.

Our real estate specialists can guide you through all property aspects of a major NHS infrastructure project, including: option appraisals, feeding into estates strategies and business cases, de-risking sites and dealing with complex decanting arrangements.

We have acted on some of the highest value and complex land acquisitions and disposals seen in the NHS and provide key support for any land transactions required in connection with a complex NHS development.

Our team has extensive experience in dealing with development arrangements across a wide range of NHS facilities. We have also supported clients in implementing innovative approaches to structuring their developments to help delivery in what continues to be a challenging period for capital funding.

Once your development has completed, we deal with occupancy arrangements (including leases, licences or flexible booking and sharing arrangements) for all types of space including clinical, head quarter offices, retail concourses and car parks.

We’ll help you to navigate the statutory obligations and assurance processes you need to follow in order to effect NHS service changes and stay compliant with public involvement and consultation. Our support includes advising on option evaluation, reviewing the pre-consultation business case (PCBC), consultation documents and decision-making business case (DMBC), and responding to referrals to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) and judicial review claims. We also advise on the business case approval process for capital funding set out in the HM Treasury Green Book.

When a dispute arises, you’ll have a team of specialists with the right skills by your side. We can help you manage and resolve commercial and property disputes responsively and effectively.

You can rely on our technical skill in using the most effective strategy based on your circumstances. Because your interests are also ours, we will go beyond the immediate consequences and advise you on how the conflict will affect your business and professional connections.  For example, we will adjust our approach to dispute resolution so that long-term relationships between all parties can be preserved.  We see the bigger picture, including the opponent’s solvency as well as legal arguments and evidence associated with each case we take on.

We have extensive experience helping our clients to resolve disputes (through negotiation, mediation, arbitration, adjudication, expert determination and/or the Courts) as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. We will tailor our services to your requirements and preferred outcome.

In addition to major variation to PFI/PPP contracts and service contracts, we provide industry leading advice on all types of operational contracts such as FM contracts and other contracts necessary to administer and operate large health estates.

Increasingly, the use of data, BIM, smart technology and artificial intelligence is delivering real cultural change in the way infrastructure projects can be structured and delivered. We have been heavily involved in supporting key clients who wish to use greater technology in their projects and have seen real innovation in healthcare projects which would make a positive difference to your organisation.