Roddy Gordon is a partner in the construction & engineering department. He has advised property owners, developers, banks, consultants contractors and sub contractors on engineering and construction law matters, contentious and non-contentious, for nearly 20 years. He originally qualified with Masons, specialist construction lawyers, in London and then moved to the North East in 1993 to be a partner at Robert Muckle where he was head of their Commercial Litigation department whilst continuing to specialise in construction law. He joined Watson Burton as a Partner in September 2001.

He acts for, amongst, others the University of Sunderland, Newcastle College, New College Durham, Silverlink Developments Limited, Circle Red Properties Limited, Bellway Homes Limited, Yuill Homes, RBS Nat West, LloydsTSB, Parsons Brinckerhoff Limited, Whessoe Oil & Gas Limited, Ryder Architecture Limited, Surgo Construction Limited, Tolent Construction, Norstead Mechanical & Electrical and McNulty Offshore Limited.

Roddy is an expert on the standard forms of contract for building and engineering projects (e.g. JCT, ICE, NEC, MF1 and FIDIC), the standard contracts for the UK Offshore Oil and Gas Industry and has also generated many bespoke forms on a specific project basis. He frequently advises on the contract documentation for major developments and has worked on a wide range of projects including PFI hospitals, BSF schools, universities and colleges as well as housing and commercial developments and FPSOs and topsides contracts. He advises on procurement issues, in particular, on compliance with EU procurement rules (e.g. the Competitive Dialogue Procedure).

Recently he has advised Parsons Brinckerhoff on its contract for the design of the Edinburgh Tram System and is currently involved with the Cross Rail Project in London and the BSF Newcastle upon Tyne. He has also been advising in respect of the Dragon LNG Import and Storage Terminal.

International work has included advising on power contracts in Cyprus, South Africa and the West Indies and FPSO contracts in Holland.

Respected legal directory Chambers 2009 commented that Roddy Gordon’s clients enthuse that he is “a great lawyer, with a rounded understanding of the law and the industry.”