Keating Chambers

Thomas Saunders specialises in the resolution of construction and engineering disputes, including professional negligence and energy claims, as well as a wide range of other commercial and property disputes. Thomas’s practice has a particular focus on advocacy, and he regularly appears as sole counsel in the High Court and the County Court.

Current and recent cases include:

• URS Corporation Ltd v BDW Trading Ltd [2025] UKSC 21, [2025] 2 WLR 1095, a wide-ranging appeal concerning liability for dangerous structural defects. The Supreme Court considered the proper approach to ‘voluntariness’ in the tort of negligence, the interpretation of the Building Safety Act 2022 and the Defective Premises Act 1972, and the accrual of a cause of action under the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978. Thomas was instructed for the claimant (and respondent to the appeal), led by Mark Howard KC and Simon Hargreaves KC along with David Sheard and another junior.
• Vitsœ Ltd v Waugh Thistleton Architects Ltd [2025] EWHC 850 (TCC), a professional negligence claim concerning rot in a timber-framed building. Thomas acted for the claimant, led by William Webb KC.
• Shepherd Construction Ltd v Kingspan & Ors, a multi-party cladding dispute which was one of The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases for 2024. Thomas acted for the claimant, led by Sean Brannigan KC along with two other juniors including Sarah Williams.
• Three-week ICC arbitration concerning the termination of an EPC contract for a 60MW solar power plant in Africa, led by Steven Walker KC and Tom Owen KC.
• £100 million civil fraud claim relating to a PFI contract, led by David Thomas KC.
• £150 million TCC litigation arising out of the construction of a gas turbine power plant on a brownfield site in Northern Ireland, led by Tom Owen KC.

Thomas has experience with all the major construction and engineering standard forms, as well as public procurement and PFI claims. He is a contributor to Keating on JCT Contracts, Keating on Construction Contracts, Keating on Offshore Construction and Marine Engineering Contracts, and the Construction Law Reports.

Tenant, Keating Chambers, 2020. Pupil, Keating Chambers, 2019–20. Called to the Bar, Middle Temple, 2019.

Bar Professional Training Course, City Law School (Outstanding, 5th in year), 2018–19. Graduate Diploma in Law, City Law School (Distinction), 2017–18. Researcher, Chambers & Partners, 2016–17. BA (Philosophy), St John’s College, University of Cambridge, 2013–16.