Best practice in construction contracts in the spotlight, as the winners of the 2023 FIDIC Contract Users’ Awards are unveiled.
The winners of the 2023 FIDIC Contract Users’ Awards were announced at a high-profile industry awards dinner in London on 28 November 2023. The awards, organised by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) are now in their fifth year and recognise excellence in the use of FIDIC contract forms for project delivery and showcase examples of good practice from across the world.
From a global collection of entries, the judging panel, chaired by international judge and arbitrator Sir Vivian Ramsey, chose winners in a number of categories including Project of the Year, Client of the Year, Adjudicator of the Year, Trainer of the Year and Legal Firm of the Year.
The winners were unveiled at an industry dinner at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London City as part of the Official FIDIC International Contract Users’ Conference. Speaking at the event, the chair of the judging panel Sir Vivian Ramsey said: “These awards, open to the entire FIDIC contracts community, were very well supported again this year, with a number of categories receiving a record number of entries. It’s very heartening to see the diversity of entries too and this bodes well for the future of these awards which are now firmly established as a key part of the industry’s awards calendar.”
The full list of winners in the 2023 FIDIC Contract Users’ Awards are listed below, along with the judges’ comments on the winning entries.
Project of the Year
Winner – Hinkley Point C New Build Nuclear Project in the United Kingdom.
The judges were impressed by the rolling out of a very skilled and knowledgeable contract team over many years and also impressive contract preparation and management. The judges also noted the extensive training, guidance, use of CM software and drafting of innovations (ECI, collaboration provisions, etc) to FIDIC forms. A feature of the project contract was also early contractor involvement and statutory adjudication provisions were included. Combining FIDIC and NEC contracts showed that this huge project was keen to use a more bespoke approach tailored to specific requirements, while keeping the look and feel of FIDIC forms.
Highly Commended – Calawis 80 Million litres per day Water Treatment Plant Project (Philippines).
Merit Awards – HYRASIA ONE project (Kazakhstan) and The St Brieuc Offshore Windfarm in France.
Client of the Year
Winner – Manila Water Company from the Philippines.
The judges were impressed by the fact that the client is a keen promoter of FIDIC contracts on multiple projects with a long history of using them to deliver a range of schemes that have improved the lives of thousands of people.
Highly Commended – Power Capital Renewable Energy from Ireland.
Adjudicator of the Year
Winner – Cyril Chern from the United Kingdom.
The winner has more than 40 years’ experience in the area of international infrastructure engineering and construction matters, including in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Far East and the Americas. They have also written eight books dealing with FIDIC contracts and adjudication. One in particular is considered the ‘bible’ for dispute boards and next year sees its fifth edition published. Cyril Chern has dedicated his career to the practice of adjudication and his extraordinary experience has seen him established as an acknowledged expert in the construction and engineering adjudication, mediation and arbitration arena.
Highly Commended – Roberto Hernandez Garcia from Mexico.
Trainer of the Year
Winner – David Heslett and Marcus Theil of ECV Consultancy.
The judges were impressed by these longstanding and well-established FIDIC trainers of more than 20 years who have demonstrated significant knowledge and enthusiasm for training on FIDIC forms. They are well known and well regarded across the industry for their training and have a long and distinguished track record which receives deserved recognition this year.
Highly Commended – Nicholas Gould from the United Kingdom.
Merit Awards – Nino Tsaturova from Georgia and Sarwono Hardjomuljadi from Indonesia.
Legal Firm of the Year
Winner – White & Case.
The judges were greatly impressed by the winner who are an international firm with FIDIC expertise embedded within it with renowned FIDIC lawyers in their ranks. The firm has undertaken notable work on project delivery and DAB and it also has within its ranks two of the leading authors on FIDIC related legal issues and has an impressive global track record, with significant work across the world.
Highly Commended – Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.
Merit Awards – Dr Donald Charrett from Australia and LNP Beyond Legal from South Africa.
Commenting on the awards, FIDIC CEO Dr Nelson Ogunshakin said: “Back in 2019 when we launched the awards, we did so with the aim of raising the profile of the use of FIDIC contracts and the community of users – engineers, contractors, funders, institutions, lawyers – and the ecosystem that surrounds them. I really believe that we are succeeding in that aim and this fifth year of the awards underlines that. I am delighted that we have brought together the global contract user community in person to celebrate excellence and good practice.”
