Chris Holwell

Practice Areas

Chris heads the Freeths Construction & Engineering team. His expertise is particularly in relation to the front-end: advising on how construction and engineering projects should be procured and delivered; drafting and negotiating the contracts; working with his clients to secure their interests whilst making sure that everyone else involved in the project gets what they need so that the project can go ahead to successful delivery.

He works for employers/clients, contractors, consultants, sub-contractors, funders, investors and occupiers. His experience covers retail, aviation, hotels, warehousing and logistics, PRS/BTR, student accommodation, public realm and infrastructure projects, amongst others. He works constantly with JCT, NEC and MF/1 contracts but also many other standard forms and plenty of bespoke contracts.

Career

After completing a law degree at Jesus College, Cambridge and the Solicitors’ Final Examination, Chris started his career with two year articles at Wragge & Co (now part of Gowling WLG), where he stayed for a further two years after qualification. He then spent 7 years at Eversheds before joining Freeths in 2000 as the second partner (and first non-contentious partner) in Freeths’ new 4 person Construction team, then part of the Real Estate Department. It has been a source of great satisfaction to see the team grow to around 30 staff and become a separate Construction & Engineering Department.

Personal

Having joined Freeths after 4 years with Wragges and 7 years at Eversheds, at a time when Freeths had only 3 offices and 3 construction lawyers, Chris has enjoyed playing his part in growing both the Construction & Engineering team (now 30+ strong) and the firm which now has 13 offices and a turnover more than ten times what it was when he joined.

Away from work, Chris plays the Celtic Harp and enjoys being part of the band at his church. He is also involved with some local community groups and enjoys walking in Derbyshire.

Work Highlights

Work highlights include: a £150m+ airport redevelopment; several £300m+ logistics hubs including complex automated pallet handling systems (some done for the occupier, some for the supply side); 2 major public infrastructure projects in Peru; a 639 home apartment project in Manchester.