By Stephen Hawes MFPWS MCIOB MCIArb AssocRICS MAPM MCABE C.Build E Stephen Hawes and Co. Chartered Building Consultancy Artificial intelligence is no longer something expert witnesses can sensibly leave in the background or treat as a professional taboo. It is already close enough to the preparation of reports, chronologies, document reviews and technical analysis that the profession now has to deal with it properly. The Ciarb Guideline on the Use of AI in Arbitration and the

The fastest way to lose time on a building project is often to save ten minutes at the wrong moment, usually just before the cavity is closed, the riser is boxed in, the window reveal is covered, or the services are hidden above a ceiling, because that is the point at which the work moves from being available for inspection to being dependent on memory, records and trust, and it is often where later defects, disputes and remedial costs quietly begin. The present challenge is

Following the very interesting Faculty of Party Wall Surveyors Forum webinar on Hart v Fidler, presented by barrister Howard Smith of Radcliffe Chambers, Lincoln’s Inn. I have gone back to the case papers, the judgment extracts, and the commentary, and I have tried to set out why this case matters for us, practising party wall surveyors who are being asked to award work that depends on temporary works being carried out correctly. The attraction of Hart v Fidler for those who