JOHN FOSTER
Director
John Foster has over 44 years' experience in construction and commercial management, much of this in senior appointments with prominent international contractors, and he has a proven track record of solving major construction problems and disputes. His experience spans a wide spectrum of construction types from heavy civil engineering works to process engineering installations and prestige building.
Quite apart from wide experience of the usual functions of the contractor's quantity surveyor in measurement and valuation of construction work completed and the development, negotiation and settlement of time and monetary claims, he has had extensive involvement in estimating the construction costs of major international building and civil engineering projects. He has also managed construction works and related planning processes.
John has spent over 35 years on overseas assignments, latterly as the Director of Commercial Services for the Hong Kong-based Gammon Group of Companies. He has also served as an officer or otherwise sat on regional committees of professional bodies and has acted as industry representative on several committees responsible for the development of standard construction documents and procedures, serving from 1981-88 as Member of, and Secretary to, the Civil Engineering Committee of the Hong Kong Construction Association.
John has extensive experience in the forensic analysis of construction delay and cost and has acted as expert witness in connection with a number of major international arbitration and mediation proceedings.
BEN THOMPSON
Director
Ben Thompson has some 20 years of construction industry experience, working in quantity surveying, commercial management and dispute resolution on a wide range of projects in the United Kingdom and overseas. Trained as a Quantity Surveyor in England, he progressed to a senior overseas position reporting at company executive level.
He has worked closely with major contractors, developers, operators, specialist sub-contractors and various client companies on a wide variety of projects, including power stations, port works, industrial facilities, railway infrastructure works, high-rise commercial and residential developments, housing schemes, water treatment facilities, educational facilities and hospitals. He has extensive experience in the development, defence and settlement of major construction disputes and has worked closely with a number of major law firms in preparing for arbitration, litigation and adjudication proceedings. He has significant experience in the preparation of expert evidence, statements of claim, and many other aspects of the legal processes associated with construction disputes.
Ben currently acts as a consultant to major national and international contractors, industrial bodies, major and specialist sub-contractors, developers, operators and law firms - principally in South East Asia as well as the United States and the United Kingdom. He advises on commercial matters generally, but with particular emphasis on contract terms and forms, claims development, claims negotiation and settlement, claims defence, dispute resolution and the preparation and settlement of final accounts.
TONY HARKER
Senior Contracts Consultant
Tony has more than 45 years of experience in the construction industry, largely in senior commercial and managerial appointments with prominent international contractors. Much of this experience gained overseas in Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia.
Latterly, he has particularly been involved in the forensic analysis of construction delays and the illustration of delay effects in providing expert witness services in connection with a number of major international arbitration and mediation proceedings. These include review of the time issues arising out of disputes in connection with the design and construction of 44 overhead bridge cranes at Pasir Panjang Container Terminal, Singapore, the EastRail Extension to the Kowloon-Canton Railway, Hong Kong and a wide variety of major building and heavy civil engineering projects particularly in Hong King and Singapore.
Tony has also carried out extensive analysis and reporting on quantum issues in connection with many of these disputes.
He currently acts as a consultant to developers, contractors, subcontractors and law firms in assessment and development of claims and in the prosecution of matters devolved to dispute resolution processes.
RICHARD HARDCASTLE
Senior Contracts Consultant
Richard has more than 35 years of experience in civil engineering, building, processing and M&E major projects acting for consultants and contractors.
After twelve years in Hong Kong working with a Chartered Surveyor, an MTRC contractor and Gammon (Hong Kong) Limited, he returned to the United Kingdom where he joined a claim consultancy engaged in claims defence and prosecution work in the UK with two secondments to Malaysia working on the new airport and the second Malaysia-Singapore crossing.
With Hambleton, Richard has worked in Hong Kong on civil engineering contracts (some leading to ADR procedures) and on various matters in Singapore, Malaysia, Africa and the UAE.
ALASTAIR SMITH
Senior Contracts Consultant
Alastair has more than 40 years of experience in quantity surveying and commercial management, working with a number of prominent international companies in the Middle East, Africa, the Far East, Europe and Canada.
He has been involved in building construction, process engineering, civil engineering and the lift industry on many prestigious projects.
He has extensive knowledge of computer programmes and has designed effective systems for handling commercial and litigation activities using Microsoft Access, Project and Excel.
CARL DOWNS
Senior Contracts Consultant
Carl Downs has over 20 years of experience in civil engineering site and project management.
Much of this experience has been gained with major UK civil engineering contractors during which time he progressed to Operations Manager.
He has had involvement in a number of high profile projects and prior to joining Hambleton was responsible for the delivery of a series of multi-million pound works packages for Balfour Beatty and Edmund Nuttall Limited on the £5bn West Coast Route Modernisation programme undertaken on behalf of client Network Rail.
He has also been involved in other major road, heavy and light rail projects and has successfully delivered works completed under Design Build Finance and Operate (DBFO), Design and Build and traditional contracts. Carl has also extensive knowledge of alliance and partnering contracts.
His various roles have seen him gain hands-on experience in the many facets of project management, including design management, procurement, commercial management, programme development and control, health & safety, environmental and third party liaison.
He has also gained extensive experience in the design and management of temporary works schemes. Carl has been both a Contractors Responsible Engineer and Civil Engineering Manager for Network Rail.
Carl has been extensively involved in project planning and in the selection of appropriate construction equipment and methodology. He also has extensive experience in the analysis and resolution of the causations and time and monetary impacts of delay to work progress, as well as the impact and valuing of ordered changes.
LEE ARMSTRONG
Technical Consultant
Lee has 8 years of experience within the construction industry, principally providing technical support in claim development and dispute resolution processes.
He has been involved in a variety of construction disputes on a number of major projects, both in the UK and overseas, providing specialist technical support in the areas of forensic analysis using database and spreadsheet based systems. In addition, he has been involved in programming and critical path analysis related to many of these disputes.
He has designed and overseen the implementation of a document management system for a client involved in a major building project.
Lee has also successfully completed attachments to a number of overseas-based organisations and, in addition to his current duties, is undertaking an MSc in Quantity Surveying from the University of Reading.