Dr Donald Charrett

Academic Qualifications

BE (Hons); LLB (Hons); MConst Law; PhD; Prof. Cert. in Arb; Grad Dip LPSE; Dip Company Director’s Course, Diploma in International Arbitration.

Professional Affiliations

Member of Victorian Bar; Fellow of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators; Member FIDIC President’s List of Adjudicators; Member FIDIC Body of Adjudicators; Member Dispute Resolution Board Australasia Inc; Fellow Institution of Engineers Australia; Founding Member Society of Construction Law Australia.

Named as Best Construction Law Practitioner, Australia 2016 by Business Worldwide magazine. Who’s Who Legal Thought Leader – Construction 2019-21,23, 24.

Professional Experience

2004 – Present: Victorian Bar

Barrister, Arbitrator and Mediator practising in building and engineering disputes, arbitration/mediation, construction law, commercial law, contract law, insurance law and professional negligence.  Briefs have included:

• Expert Determination of disputed variations on the construction of two schools (2019). (Lahey Constructions Pty Ltd v State of NSW [2021] NSWCA 69).
• Expert determination of disputes over extension of time claims on a road construction project (2016).
• Expert Determination of a dispute over defects in a water treatment plant in Victoria (2014).
• Chair of Neutral Evaluation Panel to recommend resolution of disputes over time extension claims on a large resource project in West Australia (2011).
• Appointed by Supreme Court of Victoria as Special Referee on a contractual dispute over recycled glass (2016 – 2019). 
• Appointed by Supreme Court of Victoria as Special Referee on contractual disputes over solar power (2017).
• Sole Arbitrator of disputes over extensions of time on a construction project in PNG (2016 – 2019).
• Sole Arbitrator of a dispute over a settlement agreement (2018).
• Sole Arbitrator of dispute over sound wall on a Victorian highway (2014).
• Sole Arbitrator of a dispute over construction of a tennis court (2013).
• Joint Arbitrator of payment dispute in respect of material supplied for construction of a building (2011).
• Sole Arbitrator of dispute over consultancy services for a cogeneration plant in Victoria (2010).
• Sole Arbitrator of dispute over additional costs claimed as a consequence of Engineer’s instruction during construction of a bridge in Victoria (2008).
• Chair of Neutral Evaluation Panel to recommend resolution of disputes over time extension claims on a large resource project in West Australia (2011).
• One-person Dispute Avoidance Board on a design and construct contract for a major highway bridge in NSW (2016 – 2019).
• Appointed by FIDIC President as Dispute Adjudication Board for a road project in Kazakhstan (2018).
• Chair of Dispute Avoidance Board appointed to a design and construct contract for a major highway upgrade in NSW (2013 - 2018). 
• One-person Dispute Board appointed under FIDIC MDB Contract to adjudicate on a number of disputes on a bridge construction project in a Pacific country (2015 – 2016).
• Member of Dispute Resolution Board on a train stabling project constructed for Transport for NSW (2012 – 2014).
• One-person Dispute Adjudication Board appointed under FIDIC Silver Book to adjudicate on a number of disputes on an EPC project in Africa (2012 – 2013).
• Facilitation of Experts’ Conference on quantum issues arising from a building dispute (2020).
• Facilitation of Experts’ Conferences on programming and quantum issues arising from a building dispute (2019).
• Facilitation of Experts' Conferences of electrical engineers and architects arising from a switchboard fire (2017).
• Facilitation of Experts’ Conferences on technical and quantum disputes arising from a mineral processing facility in WA (2015).
• Facilitation of Experts’ Conference on disputes over defects in a rural highway in a high rainfall area in WA (2014).
• Facilitation of an Experts’ Conference of international experts and preparation of Joint Experts’ Report for a three-party dispute involving the lining failure in solvent tanks in the Olympic Dam  mineral processing plant in South Australia (2005). (BHP Billiton (Olympic Dam) Corporation Pty Ltd v Steuler Industriewerke GMBH [2009] VSC 322).
• Mediation of construction disputes involving: wind farm construction; independent certification; defects in reinforced plastic tanks; defects in induction furnaces; omissions, ambiguities and discrepancies in design documentation; defects in a domestic building; material transport (2009 – 2019).
• Advice on the application of FIDIC contracts in a Middle East country (2021).
• Advice on contractual issues arising from a solar farm project (2020).
• Advice on the application of FIDIC contracts to an infrastructure and technology project in the Philippines (2011, 2019).
• Counsel in a stop clock arbitration of a complex dispute on an oil and gas project in Victoria involving an offshore platform, onshore gas plant and pipelines, involving preparation of opinions, submissions and pleadings, briefing experts and interviewing lay witnesses and cross-examining witnesses (2005 – 2008). 
• Court and Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal appearances as counsel in a range of construction disputes involving payment, variations, defects, extensions of time and applications in connection with statutory provisions for security of payment.

Delivery of conference papers, seminars and training courses on EPC, FIDIC contracts, Dispute Boards et al in Indonesia, Korea, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Brazil, South Africa, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Ireland, England, New Zealand and Australia.

2012- 2014: AMOG Pty Ltd Non-Executive Chairman           2010 – 2011: Non-Executive Director.

AMOGis a consulting engineering firm that provides a broad range of specialist services to the offshore oil and gas, mining, process and defence sectors, marine construction companies and government organisations in high technology niche areas, with particular expertise in structural engineering and expert witness work.  It has offices in Melbourne, Perth, Houston USA and Colombia.

2000 - 2004: Mallesons Stephen Jaques (Lawyers)

Solicitor in Construction Group, acting in Supreme Court litigation, mediation, expert determination and arbitration of construction disputes, including:

• Litigation in design and construct tunnel project: large volume of discovered documents required use of computer data base technology and preparations for a full electronic trial.
• Litigation on design and construct contract for construction of a road.
• Dispute over payment for variations in a power station project.
• Various contractual disputes on a major road infrastructure project arising from technical defects. 
• Litigation on building projects including applications for security for costs and costs applications before the Taxing Master. 
• Arbitration on hydroelectric power station: assisting engineering witnesses whose first language was not English.

1998 - 2000 - Charrett Consulting Pty Ltd

Expert witness in litigation on large light towers: preparation of reports on design process and review of structural design and construction issues.

1995 - 1998 - Hardcastle & Richards - A Division of Dames & Moore

Senior Principal, Commercial Manager: 

• Contract review - vetting, negotiating and approving all non-standard commercial arrangements with particular emphasis on risk management. 
• Responsibility for commercial aspects of joint ventures and overseas projects and insurance arrangements. 
• Board member of HMA International, a joint venture of three Australian Consulting Engineers operating in Jakarta Indonesia.

1974 - 1995: Hardcastle & Richards Pty Ltd - Consulting Engineers

Director: 1985 - 1995; Associate Director: 1980-1985; Executive Engineer: 1974 – 1980:

• Structural design and design management of a variety of industrial and architectural projects, including buildings, bridges, industrial special structures and offshore structures. Significant projects included modular buildings for Antarctica, Northwest shelf supply base for Woodside, Loy Yang Power Station for SECV, guyed towers, specialist studies on bridge loading and offshore cranes, design of complex temporary works, investigation of structural failures. 
• Management responsibilities included joint ventures on offshore oil & gas and minerals projects, international operations, corporate re-structuring, change of ownership, computer operations, and Professional Indemnity insurance.

1970 - 1974: Irwin Johnston & Partners Pty Ltd - Consulting Engineers

Design Engineer; Senior Engineer: 

• Structural design of steel and concrete buildings ranging up to large multi-storey projects. 
• Engineer in charge of computer applications.

1967 - 1969: Monash University - Department of Civil Engineering

SeniorTeaching Fellow: 

• Lecturing and tutoring undergraduate engineering students in theory of structures and stress analysis. 
• PhD degree in structural engineering: Plastic Analysis and Optimal Design of Slabs, Plates and Frames.

Legal Presentations

Presentation at conferences, seminars, workshops and training courses in Australia and internationally, including the following topics:

• Expert evidence
• Dispute Boards
• FIDIC Contracts
• EPC Contracts
• Dispute avoidance and resolution
• Alternative dispute resolution
• Contractual dispute resolution
• Dispute resolution alternatives for construction contracts
• Managing claims: strategies and solutions
• Avoiding structural disputes
• The Engineer
• Time, cost and quality challenges in construction contracts
• Contractual risks
• Project case studies
• Stop clock arbitration
• Design and construct contracts
• Engineering quality failures
• Australian Consumer Law
• Adjudication in Singapore
• Statutory intervention into freedom of contract.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation (Victoria