I arrived in Abu Dhabi on 28 February just a few hours before the hostilities began across the region. I would like to start by wishing safety and security to Building’s readers and their families, friends and colleagues across the region.

As with all firms, our first concern has been for our people, and I am grateful to the partners I work with who have taken great care to ensure our teams are supported, especially those in our Dubai office.

However, the realpolitik of construction contracts is that, alongside ensuring the safety of our people, we are also tasked with protecting the commercial position of our clients’ projects.

The present situation inevitably recalls the outbreak of the conflict in the Ukraine, when we dealt with the long tail of disputes that followed and helped contractors and employers divert equipment to alternative projects once it became clear it could no longer be used in Kyiv or Odessa.

There are lessons from these conflicts for everyone, but I have kept my reflections to the impact on construction contracts.

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