Construction & Engineering
Sahana has experience of construction disputes covering adjudications, litigation and arbitration.
Prior to coming to the Bar, Sahana worked in the International Arbitration and Construction and Engineering teams of a renowned international law firm, spending time in the firm’s London and Paris offices as a legal assistant and a stagiaire. During this time she also contributed to Studies in European Construction Law (2015), published by the European Society of Construction Law.
Selected Cases
- Abbey Healthcare (Mill Hill) Ltd v Simply Construct (UK) LLP [2022] EWCA Civ 823 (led by Michele De Gregorio) – acting as junior counsel for the Respondent in a significant case concerning whether a collateral warranty was a construction contract within the meaning of s.104 of the Housing, Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.
- Acting as junior counsel defending a £14 million claim for deceit and/or negligent misrepresentation arising out of the sale of a company specialising in groundworks and soil treatment.
- Drafting pleadings and appearing on behalf of a defendant in a building works dispute involving issues of unjust enrichment and agency.
- Drafting pleadings and acting in a multi-track claim on behalf of a company accused of failing to properly install windows in residential premises.
- Acting in a trial for unpaid invoices pursuant to a contract for the renovation of a family property.
- Acting on behalf of a lender following the assignment of a debt for the supply of windows, doors and conservatories to a contractor. The claim was defended on the basis of an entitlement to set-off under contractual warranties given by the supplier.
- Acting in an adjudication concerning the determination of the applicable dayworks rate under a JCT contract, in circumstances where it was alleged that the adjudication was an abuse of process because litigation covering the same subject matter had previously been struck out in the County Court.
- Advising on the merits of a claim by a contractor for damages under a JCT subcontract for disruption, as well as claims for payment for variations and additional work.
Awards
- Norman Tapp Memorial Prize, Grays Inn
- Internship Award, Grays Inn
- Pegasus Scholarship, Inner Temple
- Jonathan Brock QC Memorial Prize, Runner-up, LCLBA – “Forum non conveniens: Is Spiliada still fit for purpose or holed below the water-line?”
- International Professional and Legal Development Grant 2019, Bar Council
Articles
- Adjudication and Collateral Warranties – Court of Appeal reverses TCC decision in Abbey Healthcare (Mill Hill) Limited v Simply Construct (UK) LLP [2022] EWCA Civ 823
- Adjudication – a useful weapon for liquidators or a blunt sword?
News
Qualifications
- LLM International Dispute Resolution, Queen Mary University of London (ongoing)
- MA Law with French Law, Christ Church, University of Oxford.
- Certificat Supérieur de Droit Français et Européen (ERASMUS Scholar), Université Paris II (Panthéon-Assas)
- BPTC, BPP University
Languages
- Professional working French
- Intermediate spoken Kannada
- Basic Spanish
- Basic Hindi
Memberships
- COMBAR
- LCIA Young International Arbitration Group
- TECBAR
- Society of Construction Law
- LCLCBA
