Construction & Engineering
Frederick has a busy construction practice, principally comprising advice and representation in litigation, arbitration and adjudication. He regularly advises on strategy, liability and quantum, drafts pleadings and other paperwork, and represents his clients in the TCC and County Court. His practice spans the full range of construction work and clients, including disputes between construction professionals and claims by both commercial and domestic employers against their contractors. Frederick has experience of both working with and cross-examining engineers, architects and other construction professionals. As a result of his complementary expertise in professional liability, insurance, product liability and property damage Frederick is well-placed to deal with disputes which cut across these areas.
Frederick co-edits two chapters of Emden’s Construction Law: Chapter 5 (on employers’ obligations) and Chapter 13 (on contractual claims and valuation).
Selected Cases
- Wills v SuperSIPs Ltd (HHJ Bloom, 20 December 2023). Sole counsel for the successful claimant in a four-day trial in respect of defective building works, having been instructed since the pre-issue stage. Established liability and rebuffed limitation defences and the incorporation of the contractor’s standard terms.
- Adjudication / arbitration. Sole counsel for a sub-contractor in a long-running dispute with a main contractor in which the sub-contractor’s claim for unpaid fees was met with very serious allegations of fraud. In a double adjudication the fraud allegations were wholly dismissed and both adjudications were decided in the sub-contractor’s favour. Then enforcing those decisions in the High Court (TCC). Subsequently defending a true-value CIMAR 2011 arbitration brought by the main contractor to challenge the outcome of the adjudications. Value £860,000.
- Building Liability Order. Advising on the availability and merits of a building liability order in circumstances where the original developer had been dissolved.
- Adjudication. Sole counsel for an employer defending a smash and grab adjudication brought by a contractor. Drafted the Response, after which the contractor discontinued.
- Cost overrun. Junior counsel for an employer in a claim against its architect for negligent project management causing multi-million pound cost overruns.
- Arbitration. Sole counsel for the claimant property management company in a CIMAR 2011 arbitration concerning defective underpinning works. Successfully defended a security for costs application despite the claimant being a dormant company with no assets.
- Sole counsel for an adjudicator in a High Court claim concerning his jurisdiction and entitlement to his fees.
- Sole counsel for an employer in an adjudication brought by an insolvent former contractor challenging the termination of its employment. Successfully defended the whole of the claim.
- Sole counsel for a sub-contractor in a multi-party dispute concerning damage to buried services.
- Advising the collective leaseholders of a high-rise building on liability for unsafe cladding.
- Multiple other payment disputes (both substantive and technical) and ‘smash and grab’ adjudications between employers, contractors and sub-contractors.
- Multiple claims by domestic homeowners against builders and construction professionals.
- Summary enforcement of various adjudication awards in the County Court.
News
- Frederick Simpson successful in defending ‘letter of intent’ claim
- Crown Office Chambers feature in three of The Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2025
Events
Blogs
Articles
- Supreme Court restates principles of private nuisance
- Carlo Taczalski and Frederick Simpson are successful in the Court of Appeal Cross-undertakings have little place in the security for costs regime
Qualifications
- MA Philosophy (Cantab)
- GDL, BPTC (University of Law)
- Academic Scholar, Christ’s College Cambridge
- ‘Best Junior Officer’ Sword, Irish Guards
- Lord Brougham Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn
- Debating Shield, Lincoln’s Inn
- Lord Denning Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn
Memberships
- COMBAR
- PNBA
- TECBAR
- SCL
- LCLCBA
- ACIArb
- LCIA YIAG
Rankings
Recommendations
“Frederick is very hard-working and really gets into the detail of the case. His technical understanding of the case is very impressive and his drafting is easy to follow and persuasive.”
Chambers & Partners, 2026
“Frederick is very impressive.”
Legal 500, 2026
“Frederick is diligent, methodical and a really good drafter.”
Chambers & Partners, 2025
“He is an outstanding junior. He is legally and strategically astute with an outstanding eye for detail. He is a real go-to for a junior on construction matters. His style of advocacy is confident and composed.”
Legal 500, 2025
“Freddy is very hard-working and has a great demeanour. Freddy’s drafting is exceptionally clear and easy to follow.”
Legal 500, 2024
