Ioan Prydderch > Hugh James > Cardiff, United Kingdom > Lawyer Profile

Hugh James
Two Central Square
CARDIFF
CF10 1FS
United Kingdom

Work Department

Construction, energy and projects team.

Position

Ioan is head of the firm’s business services division. This division comprises all of the teams which provide transactional, contractual, advisory and dispute resolution advice to businesses and organisations across various sectors. Ioan also is Head of our Construction, Energy and Projects team and has spent almost 20 years advising clients on non-contentious and contentious construction matters. He has extensive experience in the construction and engineering sector and has acted in a number of high value and complicated disputes.

Ioan’s role involves advising the firm’s key clients on some of the most significant construction projects and disputes in Wales and the wider UK. Ioan and his team act for a wide range of clients, ranging from government and public authorities to banks, developers and contractors.

Some notable projects include advising on: 
politically sensitive, high value and complex transport and construction projects for the public sector;
a supply contract for the supply of steel for the construction of the new nuclear facility at Hinckley Point, Maidenhead, England;
a multimillion pound claim brought by one of the UK’s largest energy companies arising from an alleged EWI system failure on a large housing estate in the UK;
a high profile dispute arising out of the Mersey Gateway project.

Ioan heads up the firm’s public sector practice and manages the relationship between Hugh James and key public sector organisations, such as the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales.

Regularly advising on dispute resolution, Ioan is very familiar with adjudication, and, as an accredited mediator, he is familiar with the range of alternative dispute resolution processes.

Ioan’s mining practice has also developed further during 2017-8, with Ioan and his team advising SRK, consultants for the resource and mining industry, on a number of international disputes.

Ioan has almost 20 years’ experience advising the public and private sectors on issues relating to construction law and is widely recognised as an expert in his field.

He advises clients on procurement and the contractual documents involved in construction and engineering projects, including PPP and PFI deals, and more recently the Mutual Investment Model (MIM) as well as high value renewable energy projects.

Ioan has particular expertise in arbitration and adjudication, alternative dispute resolution, professional negligence, energy, procurement, project documentation and standard forms of contract (JCT, NEC, ICE, FIDIC, GCWorks, PPC2000, RIBA, BPF, ACE, CIC).

Ioan is a member of the following institutions and societies:

Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
Society of Construction Law
Adjudication Society.

Career

Trained at Hugh James, Cardiff. After qualifying specialised in commercial and property litigation for two years. Left for Laytons in Bristol in 2001 to specialise in construction law. Made an associate in 2003. Joined Clarke Willmott’s construction team as a senior associate in 2005 when the construction team moved there from Laytons. Returned to Hugh James in 2006 as a partner in its construction and projects team.

Languages

Welsh; French (conversational).

Memberships

Chartered Institute of Directors; Society of Construction Law; Adjudication Society.

Education

Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr, Gowerton; Swansea; University of Wales, Aberystwyth (1994 LLB Honours), MSc (Econ), International Politics (1995).

Leisure

Golf, rugby.

Lawyer Rankings

Wales > Real estate > Construction

(Leading individuals)

Ioan PrydderchHugh James

Drawing upon ‘excellent knowledge and experience’ at handling regional mandates, as well as increasingly work located in London, Hugh James provides a ‘prompt and responsive service’ to public, private and public sector stakeholders, across a wide array of contentious and non-contentious matters. The team has ‘detailed knowledge of the affordable housing sector’, an area that both Matthew Stevens and Iwan Jenkins have been particularly active, advising housing associations, including Pobl, across a wide range of matters. Team head Ioan Prydderch is also recommended, both in the context of contractual drafting in relation to the construction and engineering sector, as well as on litigation, where clients benefit from his deep knowledge of alternative dispute methods of resolution.

Wales > Public sector

Drawing upon a ‘strong collaborative working’ arrangement, both from within the firm (across a range of practice areas), as well as with the instructing clients, Hugh James provides ‘highly knowledgeable expert advice’ to central and local government, education and healthcare providers. Regulatory advice informs much of the firm’s workflow, with ‘consummate professional’ Martin Jones particularly noted for his social care expertise, where he combines an ‘authoritative approach with humility and pragmatism’ for local authorities in relation to safeguarding matters. Jones is also adept at representing non-police prosecutors throughout Wales and England, as is ‘exceptionally knowledgeable’ senior associate Justin Davies, who ‘has built a unique practice in regulatory work and in particular fire safety prosecutions’. The firm is also engaged in a significant amount of property-related public sector mandates, including Caroline O’Flaherty‘s work for Welsh and English registered social landlords, and construction partner Ioan Prydderch‘s regular engagements on contentious and non-contentious matters for core firmwide clients including Natural Resources Wales.