Building with Trust

Trust in three languages. With Emma Niemistö, Leonardo Toledo da Silva and Marijana Zvonar.

Recorded in Dubrovnik on 9 October 2026, during the ICC Croatia conference, after a day in which the four of us had argued on stage about whether the contract model determines the dispute. This is not that debate. It is the question nobody had asked in three episodes of a podcast called Building with Trust: what does the word mean where you come from?

Povjerenje, says Marijana Zvonar (civil engineer, Exstructa, Zagreb, born in Dubrovnik), has vjera inside it: faith. The verb means to entrust, to hand something of yours to someone else. Trust is given, not calculated. And in a country near the bottom of Europe on trust in institutions, people look for a person instead.

Confiança, says Leonardo Toledo da Silva (Toledo Marchetti, São Paulo, professor at FGV, PhD on alliancing), comes from fiducia, faith again, and covers reliance, confidence and confiding in one word. Its slang cousin jeitinho, the little way around the rules, has a Croatian relative that Marijana supplies on the spot: we will find a solution, don't worry.

Luottamus, says Emma Niemistö (Borenius, Helsinki, lawyer and construction engineer), is the simplest of the three. You earn it by performing as you promised, and Finnish contracts are read as written. Which leads to the cynic's question: if everyone performs as written, do you need trust at all?

Then the cultures. Why a Brazilian finds it hard to say no, so a small problem stays hidden until it arrives in battle mode (and why there is a word, sincericida, for someone too honest). Why a Dubrovnik proverb tells you to be polite to everyone and honest with no one. Why Emma's worst cases are public employers who refuse to understand a risk that has actually happened. Two stories: a contractor who calls his engineer the moment he has a problem, because he knows she will not use it against him; and a contractor who lost an early contractor involvement contract because he would not show the kitchen of his restaurant.

And the agreement nobody planned: trust is not in the contract and not in the culture. It is built inside every project, by the people on it, with the contract as scaffolding, and it has to be rebuilt when the going gets hard.

The secret of dispute-free construction:

Emma: "Building mutual alignment on the project-specific risks, and doing that early on."

Marijana: "Trust the other parties, and address your problems as soon as you become aware of them."

Leonardo: "It's hard. But contract governance, proper governance, very well established."

Host: Arent van Wassenaer, founder of Vereniging Presolve and author of A Practical Guide to Successful Construction Projects; the write-up appears in the second edition (Routledge, 2027). Full disclosure: all three guests and the host co-wrote the paper "Does the Contract Model Determine the Dispute?" for the panel Arent moderated that morning. The paper is on presolve.info.

Building with Trust is the international sister of Bouwen met Vertrouwen, the podcast of Vereniging Presolve, the Dutch expertise centre for dispute-free construction. Subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

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The international sister of Bouwen met Vertrouwen, the podcast of Vereniging Presolve, the Dutch expertise centre for dispute-free construction. Recorded in Copenhagen during the IBA Annual Conference on 4 October 2026.

Every major standard form promises to help parties avoid disputes. NEC4 has early warning and risk reduction; FIDIC 2017 has advance warning and a DAAB. Yet disputes keep coming.

So host Arent van Wassenaer asks two leading practitioners why: Shona Frame, partner at CMS and one of the UK’s leading NEC practitioners, and Edward Corbett, founder of Corbett & Co and a leading FIDIC specialist, now with Howard Kennedy and President of the ICAA.

What actually works? For Shona, NEC's early warning and risk reduction process. For Edward, properly implemented dispute boards. Both agree, however, that the contract is only part of the story. The real difference is made by how parties behave: how quickly they contract, whether the design is ready, whether the price and programme are realistic, and whether problems are addressed before they become disputes.

They also discuss how contracts can make matters worse: tick-box compliance, rigid notice requirements and time bars can crystallise issues rather than resolve them. But good processes can also "lubricate" negotiations and get projects moving again.

Their message is ultimately simple: most clients do not want disputes. They want to get on with the day job.

"It comes down to the parties' behaviours, and their ability to reach resolutions when issues arise." – Shona Frame

"Dispute boards on every international construction project, and enforced. And it would be a good thing if FIDIC contracts were simpler and shorter." – Edward Corbett

"The bidder who makes the biggest mistake gets the job." – Edward Corbett

"A tick-box compliance with the contract doesn't move anything forward. It crystallises the issue." – Shona Frame

"Most clients' business isn't disputes. They want to get on with the day job." – Shona Frame

Shona Frame – Partner at CMS in Glasgow, Senior Fellow of the University of Melbourne, leading NEC practitioner and past co-chair of the IBA International Construction Projects Committee.

Edward Corbett – Founder of Corbett & Co, now part of Howard Kennedy; adjudicator, arbitrator and dispute board member, author of the standard FIDIC commentary, President of the ICAA and past co-chair of the IBA International Construction Projects Committee.

Arent van Wassenaer, founder of Vereniging Presolve and author of A Practical Guide to Successful Construction Projects.

Find Building with Trust on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and subscribe so you don't miss the next episode.

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The international sister of Bouwen met Vertrouwen, the podcast of Vereniging Presolve, the Dutch expertise centre for dispute-free construction. Recorded live at the DRBF Regional Conference, Lima, September 2026.

For the first time in English, host Arent van Wassenaer sits down with three people who shaped dispute boards in Latin America: Jaime Gray (Lima), Augusto Barros de Figueiredo (Rio de Janeiro) and Roberto Hernández García (Mexico City).

The puzzle of the episode: a dispute board is a dispute institution whose whole purpose is to prevent disputes. Can that work in a region where trust does not come easily?

Jaime first heard the words "dispute board" at an IBA conference in Cancún in 2001 and was sure it would never work at home, because of the Contraloría. A highway in Honduras, CA-5, changed his mind: as sole board member he watched the parties change the way they talked to each other. Peru then took, in Roberto's words, a leap of faith and wrote dispute boards into law. Augusto closes a story left unfinished in Arent's first edition ten years ago: after the Rio 2016 Games, with 56 contracts and 42 notices, there were in the end no disputes at all. Roberto is candid that Mexico is not the region's best example, and explains why the contagion still spreads from country to country.

Along the way: why a dispute board is a platypus (it looks like arbitration, mediation and negotiation, and is none of them), the good and bad jeitinho, the board as equaliser and lubricant, and why sometimes parties need a decision more than they need prevention. Jaime calls it compulsory guidance. Augusto calls it a quick no that is worth a yes.

The secret of dispute-free construction

"Mutual respect. Respect for the contract, for the balance, for the other party." – Roberto Hernández García

"Don't confuse claims with disputes. Respect the contract, communicate openly, and above all: common sense." – Jaime Gray

"The human factor. Disputes are mostly about personality." – Augusto Barros de Figueiredo

Guests

Jaime Gray is founding partner of NPG Abogados in Lima, past President of DRBF Region 4 (Latin America) and past co-chair of the IBA International Construction Projects Committee.

Augusto Barros de Figueiredo is a construction lawyer and dispute board member from Rio de Janeiro, and one of the people who brought dispute boards to Brazil through the Rio 2016 Olympic programme.

Roberto Hernández García is a partner at COMAD in Mexico City, dispute board member and arbitrator, past co-chair of the IBA International Construction Projects Committee, and author of a book on dispute boards.

Host

Arent van Wassenaer, founder of Vereniging Presolve and author of A Practical Guide to Successful Construction Projects. The write-up of this conversation appears in the second edition (Routledge, 2027).

Full disclosure

All three guests are friends of the host. 

#BuildingWithTrust #DisputeBoards #DRBF #DisputeAvoidance #ConstructionLaw #LatinAmerica