International engineering federation FIDIC (the International Federation of Consulting Engineers) has signed its first ever contract training collaboration with a European university after it agreed a memorandum of understanding to co-organise a summer school on the FIDIC contracts and their practical use.

The agreement to organise the contracts summer school was signed on 23 May 2019 and the project being undertaken by the King’s College London Centre of Construction Law and FIDIC is expected to lead to the establishment of an internationally recognised executive educational training programme, leading to a certificate of attendance based on the use of the FIDIC form of contract in practice.

The course will be run by leading practitioners and focuses on the common and civil law legal frameworks within which the contracts are used. This intensive course will build on common law and civil principles and will examine how the FIDIC standard form processes operate in various legal systems.  

The first summer school will be run during Summer 2020, as a one-week intensive course. Through structured, academic training, the programme will be aimed at practitioners, demonstrating a minimum of two years of work experience, including engineers, lawyers and other construction professionals that have an interest in the use of FIDIC in practice.

The programme will not merely provide attendees with an overview of the FIDIC form of contract but will provide an in-depth analysis of the FIDIC contracts from the outset including a review of procurement systems and the legal systems within which these contracts are interpreted.

The foundation of the programme will be on the analysis of contracts in a civil law and common law environment, including issues relating to contract formation, extensions of time, breach, payment, termination as well as dispute resolution. Once these have been understood, the programme will review the FIDIC contract forms to consider, discuss and review how to deal with the issues in a practical environment and within the context of a legal system.

In order to add value to the programme, such a review would not be limited to a legal analysis but would consider what actually happens on projects in real life. Full course details are available from Olivia Nicolaou at the King’s College London Centre of Construction Law at olivia.nicolaou@kcl.ac.uk

The course is led by visiting professor Nicholas Gould and professor Phillip Capper. Gould said: “King’s is extremely pleased to be involved in this educational initiative, combining an examination of the FIDIC contracts in practice against the legal background of common and civil law systems within which these contracts operate.” Phillip, who was instrumental in the original formation of the Centre of Construction Law at King’s, said that ‘the partnership with FIDIC is excellent news and demonstrates how a leading international organisation can work with King’s to produce a practical international legal programme’”.

Commenting on the signing of the memorandum of understanding, FIDIC chief executive, professor Nelson Ogunshakin said: “We are very pleased to secure this partnership with King’s College London, a prestigious academic institution which is ranked in the top 25 universities worldwide. We anticipate that the internationally recognised educational training programme we hope to create will enhance the global FIDIC body of knowledge and thereby help the development of professionals in the industry. 

“The agreement we have signed with the King’s College London Centre of Construction Law is the first of its kind for FIDIC and we are excited by the prospect of a mutually beneficial collaboration. It is FIDIC’s strategy to establish similar agreements with other prestigious universities globally to expand FIDIC contract usage to the next generation of project promoters, consultants, engineers investors, project managers and risk specialists who are interested in infrastructure development.”

Professor David Mosey, director of the King’s College London Centre of Construction Law, said: “This important collaboration with FIDIC reflects the objectives of King’s College London to improve knowledge and understanding and to deliver impact in society. We look forward to launching our innovative joint programme with FIDIC in summer 2020.”