In this episode of our podcast series, we meet Kiri Parr, Regional Legal Counsel, Arup, who presented at the recent Society of Construction Law Australia National Conference. The Conference brought together lawyers and construction industry professionals to discuss ‘Building Australia’s Future.’

Kiri speaks on the significant challenges of delivering successful projects and looks at some of the concurrent factors impacting our world. This includes how we use cities and buildings, the move from a labour to a knowledge economy, and the increase in collaboration and innovation.

Kiri asks whether the business norms we have adopted as construction professionals are allowing lawyers to deliver advantages to our clients. Kiri notes that this includes adversarial contracting, market power, no standardisation, and the obsession with perfectionism as lawyers.

Kiri posits that data analysis will drive efficiency in the future, and looks at ways that the construction industry and lawyers will need to work together to manage risks in this space. Kiri looks at what Toronto (Canada) and London (UK) is doing in the geotechnical engineering space, where borehole data is shared on a public database. This drives better risk management of geology, and is a space with opportunities for the Australian construction industry to improve.

As Regional Legal Counsel for Arup, Kiri leads the delivery of legal services to the business in the region, which encompasses Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Indonesia. Prior to joining Arup in 2005, Kiri worked for 10 years in private practice specialising in construction law.  Kiri has a Bachelor of Arts and Law is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

 For more information please head to www.scl.org.au or find us on Twitter @SCLAust

 

This podcast is for reference purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. You should always obtain legal advice about your specific circumstances. The views expressed in these podcasts are the speakers' own. They should not be taken as recommendations of the Society of Construction Law Australia.

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