Ian DE VAZ

Ian DE VAZ is the Head of the Infrastructure, Construction & Engineering Practice and a Partner in the International Arbitration, and Middle East Practices. 

Ian graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours). He obtained his Master of Laws degree from University College London, where he obtained a Distinction in International Construction – Contracts and Arbitration. Ian is admitted to the Singapore Bar and to the Roll of Solicitors of the Supreme Court of England & Wales.

In January 2018, Ian was amongst the inaugural batch of select legal practitioners to be appointed as Senior Accredited Specialist in Building and Construction Law by the Singapore Academy of Law.

Ian has a diverse practice in construction and civil engineering work, spanning both front-end matters and dispute resolution work.

As a disputes practitioner, he has appeared as lead counsel in the Court of Appeal and the High Court on, amongst other things, the enforceability and setting aside of adjudication determinations and arbitral awards; in both international and domestic construction arbitrations (institutional and ad hoc) he has dealt  with issues on delay and disruption, concurrency of delays, extensions of time, liquidated and general damages, loss and expense claims, disputed variations, value engineering claims, defective works and design inadequacies, unforeseen ground and geotechnical conditions, construction insurance claims, bonds/guarantees, work suspension/abandonment, force majeure claims, and termination of contracts. Ian has particular expertise in land reclamation, infilling and soil improvement work, in handling claims for damage to cable and underground services and in defending prosecutions under the relevant legislation, including on workplace safety & health matters.

Ian's front-end construction experience includes drafting, reviewing, negotiating and advising on various standard form construction contracts (such as SIA, PSSCOC, REDAS, FIDIC, NEC, JCT and ICE), project management and consultancy agreements, construction-related insurance policies, bonds and guarantees. To complement this, Ian advises clients on the suitability of adopting different methods and best procurement models ranging from Public Private Partnership (PPP), Design-Build-Own-Operate (DBOO), Design and Build (D&B), Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC), Engineering, Procurement, Construction Management (EPCM) contracts and fee-based (management contracting and construction management) models and variants thereof.

Ian enjoys the distinction of being one of the first lawyers in Singapore to be trained as an adjudicator of construction disputes at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London in 2002, well before statutory adjudication was introduced in Singapore in 2005. Ian is numbered among a select and exclusive number of Senior Adjudicators, appointed pursuant to the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act (Cap 30B, Rev Ed 2006); all of his notable adjudication determinations are published in the annual Singapore Construction Adjudication Review (SCAdjR). To date, Ian has advised on, served as an adjudicator, and acted as counsel in more than 100 adjudications. Ian's expertise in domestic adjudication work is complemented by his experience in sitting as a member of various Dispute Adjudication Boards (both standing and ad hoc) for mega construction projects in East Africa and Bangladesh.

In the arbitration arena, Ian is regularly nominated to sit as arbitrator in international construction arbitrations administered by institutions such as the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). 

In March 2022, Ian was invited by the Law Society of Singapore to sit on its Building & Construction Law Committee - a new standing committee intended to facilitate knowledge-sharing in the subject area and to seek opportunities for professional growth, development and engagement, both within and outside Singapore. 

In July 2022, Ian was also nominated as Singapore’s practitioner-representative to sit on the inaugural International Statutory Adjudication Forum (ISAF). The committee comprises construction luminaries from Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.

Outside of legal practice, Ian serves as a Professor in the Faculty of Law, NUS, where he has been teaching construction law since 2004. 

Leveraging on his international experience and expertise, Ian is regularly invited to speak on topical and practical issues in construction law; to date, he has delivered numerous to a diverse global audience, spanning both common and civil law jurisdictions, including the United States of America, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar.