What Are The Key Differences Between "ordinary" Construction Contacts And "long-term Project" Arrangements?

Here is a list:

• The obvious one – it's in the title! Duration. The construction of the physical facility is just the starting point. Perhaps the contract envisages long-term operation – typically 20-25 years. Parties have to "live with each other"!
• "Employer" usually a public authority procuring high-cost infrastructure: typically, utility/transport/energy.
• Nature of work: large scale and physically complex/challenging – that shapes the kinds of practical problems that produce disputes.
• Legal issues flowing from government/public sector involvement: overlay of public law and regulation. Public procurement; complex regulatory backdrop. Regulatory and fiscal environment often under control of the Employer itself! Can be a very unequal relationship, and a politicised one.