Construction & Engineering
Benedict’s construction practice primarily involves UK construction projects carried out on JCT standard terms, but he also has experience of projects utilising bespoke contracts and FIDIC contracts, and extensive experience of the usual run of informal contracts used in small-scale domestic projects or as between contractors.
Benedict’s cases involve projects ranging in size from domestic works involving the construction of an extension, to urban regeneration projects and large infrastructure projects.
Recent instructions include:
- Adjudication – acting for the Responding Party in a ‘smash and grab’ adjudication related to sub-contracted mechanical works in a Central London development;
- Adjudication – acting for the Responding Party in an adjudication involving allegations of ‘vexatious and unreasonable termination’ by the employer on a luxury property build under a 2016 JCT Minor Works with Contractor’s Design;
- Adjudication enforcement – appeared as sole counsel on behalf of the successful Claimant to enforce an adjudication award of over £130,000 in the TCC. A winding-up order had been made against the Defendant between the adjudication decision’s issuance and the enforcement hearing so Benedict also had to obtain leave to proceed under s. 130(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986;
- FIDIC Silver Book – settling the 180-page Defence in this £320,000,000 TCC claim for breach of directors’ duties against three former directors arising out of the Claimant construction company’s entry into three large waste-to-energy plant turnkey projects on FIDIC Silver Book terms (led by Daniel Shapiro KC and James Sharpe);
- Bespoke contract (professional adviser) – drafting a Particulars of Claim for a £4,000,000 claim brought by a JCT Design and Build main contractor on an extensive urban redevelopment project against its structural engineer for issuing negligent and late design deliverables (as sole Counsel). Involved technical engineering evidence relating to load-bearing, reinforcement requirements in concrete, and piling;
- Bespoke contract (professional adviser) – successfully obtaining setting aside of default judgment (and eventually obtaining favourable settlement) in a dispute between the main contractor and their project manager/quantity surveyor arising out of a £2,000,000 refurbishment to an Oxfordshire hotel;
- Bespoke contract (arbitration) – (during pupillage) assisted Carlo Taczalski with a multi-million pound arbitration which concerned delay on civil engineering works at a powerplant under a bespoke contract;
- Informal contract (specialist subcontract) – Drafting a Defence and Counterclaim in a final account/defective work claim involving the damming and dredging of a canal by a specialist subcontractor as part of the redevelopment of a former gasworks;
- Informal contract (professional adviser) – settling the Defence in a claim against a structural engineer involving an allegedly negligent report on the structural soundness of a listed luxury Brighton property which led to extensive underpinning works being carried out. Involved complex structural engineering expert evidence on load-bearing in historic buildings through beams and partition walls;
- Informal contract (design and build) – (during pupillage) assisted Richard Sage in Caudle Developments Limited v Warren, a three-day Central London CC TCC trial involving a dispute over which party was responsible for obtaining the regulatory approval for moving hibernating bats, and competing claims that the opposing party was in repudiatory breach of contract. Widely reported in the media and available here;
- JCT Home Owner/Occupier – drafted Particulars of Claim and a Reply and Defence to Counterclaim on behalf of a homeowner whose home was ruined by a cowboy builder following a botched renovation. Involved issues of defective works, delay, and the valuation of additional works. Favourable settlement was obtained following the CCMC;
- Various matters involving the Defective Premises Act 1972 that have involved allegations of unfitness for habitation because of damp/mould, susceptibility to flooding, and fire risk;
- Party Wall Act disputes – advised on and pleaded a nuisance claim involving noise, dust, and vibration arising out of work done in excess of what was authorised by the Party Wall Act surveyor;
- Party Wall Act disputes – (during pupillage) drafted a Defence on behalf of Party Wall Act surveyor who faced allegations of negligence for failing to order an intrusive structural survey into the Claimant’s property before approving work pursuant to the Act.
Selected Cases
View full profile »Awards
- Academic Scholarship, Oriel College (2017-2019)
- Oriel College Prize for Finals results (2019)
- Finalist (top 12 of over 100 essays), Times Law Awards (2020)
News
- Benedict Morillo successful in £600,000 chronic pain claim which featured suspected AI-generated fake authorities
- Crown Office Chambers welcomes three new tenants
Events
- The Bar Council Pupillage Fair 2024
- Crown Office Chambers at the Legal Cheek Virtual Pupillage Fair 2024
Blogs
Qualifications
- BA Jurisprudence (Double First, 9/250 in cohort); Oriel College, University of Oxford
- Bachelor of Civil Law (Distinction); Oriel College, University of Oxford
- Bar Vocational Studies (Distinction); City, University of London
