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ARTICLE · 09 SEPTEMBER 2026

Beyond The Contract: Why Extra-contractual Remedies Matter In Construction Disputes

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Construction contracts form the foundation of every project, but they rarely tell the whole story. When disputes arise, parties often discover that some of their most powerful remedies lie not in the express terms they negotiated, but in broader principles of tort, equity, restitution, and statute that operate independently of—or alongside—the written agreement.

United KingdomLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Slava Kiryushin
Slava Kiryushin
Arpan Gupta
Arpan Gupta
Junaid Tariq
Junaid Tariq

Construction lawyers are trained to begin with the contract. So are clients. When a dispute arises, the instinctive question is usually: what does the contract say? That is often the right starting point, but rarely the end.

Introduction

Large construction projects operate through intricate contractual frameworks designed to allocate risk, define responsibilities, and regulate remedies. Yet even the most sophisticated contract cannot anticipate every eventuality, every commercial relationship, or every form of wrongdoing that may arise during the life of a project. When the contract is silent, incomplete, ineffective, or simply inapplicable, parties must look beyond it.

That is where extra-contractual remedies come into play.

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