Construction, renovation and property development
Legal safeguards from the design stage
Every construction, renovation or refurbishment project requires rigorous legal preparation to secure the transaction, prevent risks and ensure that the contributions of the various participants are consistent.
Our law firms in Bordeaux and Porto support clients from the earliest stages of a project, ensuring that the legal documentation complies with requirements, that the necessary authorisations are valid and that each participant's responsibilities are clearly defined.
The aim is to give the project owner, investor or business leader a secure legal framework before work begins.
Comprehensive, secure legal documentation
The success of a property project depends to a large extent on the quality of its legal documentation.
Our law firms draft, review, negotiate and monitor all the documents needed for the smooth running of the transaction, including:
- Architects' appointments and design and construction management contracts.
- Building contracts and subcontracts.
- Supply contracts and technical agreements.
- Contractual guarantees and insurance.
- Documents relating to administrative and planning permissions.
We ensure that every document accurately reflects the project's objectives, secures the parties' commitments and contributes to the proper execution of the transaction.
Coordinating participants and securing delivery
Property projects frequently involve many participants working simultaneously: architects, engineers, design consultancies, main contractors, subcontractors, insurers, technical experts, public authorities, financial institutions and notaries.
Our law firms provide legal coordination of communications between these participants to anticipate difficulties, secure decision-making and maintain the continuity of the project.
This approach ensures consistent management of contractual commitments, facilitates the necessary decisions and trade-offs, and limits the risk of litigation or operational deadlock.
Preventing difficulties and defending the client's interests
Construction delays, additional works, reservations recorded on acceptance of the works, technical defects and contractual disputes call for a swift and legally structured response.
The firm supports clients in gathering and preserving evidence, assessing liability, managing technical expert assessments and seeking amicable solutions where these are appropriate to the circumstances.
We also assist clients with out-of-court and court-appointed expert assessments, defining the appropriate legal strategy, preparing the expert assessment process and coordinating communications with experts, insurers and the other participants concerned.
Where necessary, we defend our clients' interests in subsequent litigation.
Comprehensive support in France and Portugal
Our teams work in France and Portugal on residential, commercial, industrial and tourism projects.
Where a project forms part of an international wealth or investment strategy, we ensure that the legal documentation is consistent and coordinate the property, corporate and wealth-related issues between the two countries.
Our areas of practice
- Reviewing title documents and preparatory documentation.
- Checking administrative and planning permissions.
- Drafting, negotiating and securing the legal documentation for construction and renovation projects.
- Design and construction management contracts, building contracts, guarantees and insurance.
- Legal follow-up of changes during execution and additional works.
- Legal assistance with reservations recorded on acceptance of the works, construction defects and the liabilities of the parties involved.
- Assistance and representation in out-of-court and court-appointed expert assessments.
- Supporting project owners, investors, businesses and insurers during court-appointed expert assessments.
- Defining legal strategy, monitoring expert assessment proceedings and defending the client's interests through to resolution of the dispute.
- Construction pre-litigation matters and litigation.
- Coordinating property projects between France and Portugal.
- Legal structuring of property investments.
Support founded on anticipation and legal certainty
Because a property project's success depends as much on the quality of its delivery as on the strength of its legal documentation, our law firms provide clients with exacting, pragmatic and international support, ensuring the security of their transactions and the lasting protection of their interests in France, Portugal and, where relevant, the other Member States of the European Union.