Self-employed contractor, giving contract, risk and compliance advise to the construction industry.

Management Team member and responsible for leading 5 contract managers and 3 technical buyers for the construction of the HES Hartel Tank Terminal, 52 tanks at the Maasvlakte II in the Port of Rotterdam. Reporting to both General Counsel and Project Director.

Next to the day to day operational business, responsible for:

• the successful change of the site set-up and creating 5 small project teams per contract discipline

• the introduction of a Project Management Plan and risk register

• the introduction of an internal dashboard tool for the 5 work packages, showing the exact progress on site, number and extent of variations, status of obligatory Reserved Discretions, incoming and outgoing correspondence and claims and the cash position per work package

Contract & Claims Manager for the HSL-South Project, one of the largest high speed railway projects in Europe (from Amsterdam to Brussels, appr. 180 km). Reporting to the General Manager.

•  setting up and successfully implementing a claims program to protect the company against maintenance liabilities due to end of defect period of civil assets, built by the Clients subcontractors

• supporting the maintenance organisation in minimizing non-availability risk of the track of both the system assets (supplied by Infraspeed) and the civil assets to prevent penalties

• Various contract support activities related to track maintenance (grinding, re-alignment, measurement and replacement) and civil maintenance (mitigating works related to settlements, leakages, concrete quality issues and repair of defects); and Drafting and presenting various reports to external stakeholders (eg. monthly status, insurance renewals and technical advisors reports) 

The joint venture for construction works consisted of three parties, Siemens Nederland N.V. (power supply system, the ERTMS - European train control signalling system, the GSM-R communication system and the ancillary equipment), Royal BAM Group N.V. (track system and the noise barriers) and Fluor Infrastructure B.V. (project management). The holding consisted of the JV partners as industrial partners and Innisfree / Charterhouse (HSBC) as institutional partners.

Main duties: set-up support for the engineering, construction and installation of the Luchterduinen Windpark.

During this period I returned to the Netherlands and spent my time restoring buildings from the 19th century. I also travelled through New Zealand in November and December and  occasionally supported Alstom and advised Alstom's construction staff about the details of their assignment.

• Responsible for creating country specific strategic procedures for international assignments of construction staff (delegation models) in order to avoid delays in project execution, be compliant with local laws and regulations and tax optimisation. Work with cross functional teams to identify requirements. Develop and set clear directions for the assignments with regards to immigration procedures, social security and tax implications, HR and finance feasibility. Continuously monitor adherence to and analyse changing regulations, impacting the models to avoid compliance issues. Managed team of 3 FTE.

• Training of staff and liaising with involved stakeholders in order to guarantee successful implementation.

• Scope of Work: engineering, construction and installation of the CCGT Aghada 432 MW power plant.

• Responsible for client and subcontract management, including claim and risk management for the construction of a Combined Cycle Gas power plant.

• Develop contracting strategies, scrutinise contract documents for risks, opportunities and entitlements. Draft special conditions for subcontracts and purchase conditions for capital intensive and critical components. Lead the commercial subcontract negotiations and support Procurement. Streamlining payment milestones across the various contracts to ensure a positive cash-flow. Support the Project Director on various commercial affairs.

• Attend Client's meetings and provide strategic guidance on commercial- and contract matters, procurement and insurances.

• Support Site management in relation to managing the re-measured civil, mechanical and electrical subcontracts and some supporting and auxiliary works, like piling, fuel oil storage, demineralised water and firewater tankage.

• Various supporting activities for Fidic (Silver and Red) contract advise on other projects in Germany, Israel, England and Russia.

• Management Team member (Legal Counsel) of the Alstom Country Region, Contract Manager for the BetuweRoute project and interim installation manager on site.

Main duties:

• Various legal supporting activities for rolling stock (traction) contracts with various European Clients as well as signalling contracts in India and Indonesia.

• Responsible for providing the day-to-day commercial, contract and claims affairs with the Client for the joint venture between Alstom Transport and Movares for the engineering, construction and installation of the BetwuweRoute project, a signalling system (ERTMS and ATB plus)  of appr. 100 km railway line, running from the harbour of Rotterdam to Emmerich (D), as part of the freight corridor from Rotterdam to Génova (Italy).

• Responsible for the closing claims negotiations with our main subcontractor to avoid escalation.

• Interim installation / commissioning manager for the BetuweRoute project during the last 6 months of the project, with the aim of regaining control over our installation contractor on site.

Main duties: legal and contracts advise to proposal/bid managers and project managers.

• claims management on various pipelay and vessel conversion works

• optimising the use of bank guarantees and surety bonds

• support project teams and liaise with various departments to identify risk and opportunities; and insurance affairs relating to CAR, P&I, Third Party, Marine, Hull and Machinery; and matters concerning corporate housekeeping, revision of frame agreements for the Procurement and Subcontracting department

Responsible for the restructuring of the world wide Van Oord Group and a variety of supporting legal proceedings.

Responsible for incorporating a distribution module in a web shop.

Responsible for company and maritime law, but mainly real estate transfers.

Discovery/disclosure of documents operation for a US exemplary damage claim, executed in Belgium (Antwerp).

Support clients with the sale and financing of vessels, exploring the possibilities of a combined commercial lawyer's and public notaries department, concerned with maritime law.