Claudia Baldwin

Expertise

Claudia is an experienced construction and commercial litigator in Holding Redlich’s Construction & Infrastructure team. Claudia has regularly acted for owners corporations, private owners, government departments (including regulatory bodies), Victorian municipal councils, building professionals, and insurers in both commercial and residential building and construction matters.

Claudia has had experience in bringing and defending litigation matters across Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, including in respect of traditional court proceedings, arbitration, adjudication and other building and infrastructure related disputes. She is familiar with the procedural and other steps involved in large-scale litigation, including dispute resolution and settlement processes.

Having formerly acted for statutory authorities tasked with the oversight of building regulation and compliance, in addition to government insurers of domestic building work, she understands the nature of building insurance and processes of the relevant regulatory bodies, including their general approach to managing the issues which regularly arise in the both commercial and residential building projects, including in respect of government-funded removal and replacement schemes relevant to combustible cladding products.

Claudia is dedicated to providing commercial and concise advice to her clients, and is an enthusiastic advocate for her clients’ interests and outcomes.

Experience

Claudia’s construction litigation experience includes:

• acting on behalf of a mid tier concreting subcontractor in bringing various adjudication applications in relation to Victorian-based projects with issues relating to non-payment, valuation and time
• currently advising a commercial client operating a hotel in a multi-storey residential building in the CBD affected by combustible cladding. The dispute involve multiple parties in VCAT and the County Court, leading fire safety experts and a response to a building order issued by the council
• acting on behalf of a global engineering company in a multi-party Supreme Court proceeding regarding construction and design related defects in a major infrastructure upgrade project in Queensland
• currently acting on behalf of the owners corporation and owners of a five-townhouse development in relation to combustible cladding and other water ingress issues, including advising in relation to potential outcomes and funding by Cladding Safety Victoria
• currently acting on behalf of the builder of a childcare centre in defending a claim by the relevant developer in the County Court of Victoria in relation to various alleged defects including waterproofing and damage caused by water ingress
• acting on behalf of owners corporations in respect of combustible cladding present in high-rise mixed-use residential development including liaising with fire engineers, city council and principal contractors, drafting special resolutions and advising as to various matters including subject matter of building notices, process of Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria and other pre-litigation requirements
• advising government builders warranty insurer in numerous building defects claims ranging from single dwellings to multi-unit development projects
• advising government builders warranty insurer in respect of numerous defect disputes involving issues involving fire-related defects, cracking render and paintwork, water ingress in multi-unit developments, structural engineering and slab deficiencies, drainage and landscaping defects and building works not complying with contracts of sale
• acting on behalf of a global environmental waste management company in successfully defending an adjudication lodged by a subcontractor under Queensland’s security of payment regime
• acting on behalf of a top-tier contractor in preparing an adjudication application for variation claims in excess of $200 million, including preparing lay witness statements, drafting submissions and engaging in strategy discussions with a view to reaching the most commercial outcome
• acting on behalf of a plaintiff multi-metals company with mining and smelting operations in Australia in a $3.5 million dispute relating to gross negligence and defective building works, including preparing lay and expert witness statements, undertaking and managing a team of junior and graduate lawyers tasked with detailed document review and preparing matrices of pleadings and evidence, preparing an interlocutory application for non-party disclosure and engaging in strategy and settlement with the team and the client
• acting on behalf of a plaintiff builder in advising on options to enforce an adjudicator’s decision, including lodging an appeal of the decision in the Supreme Court of Queensland and a subsequent appeal in the Queensland Court of Appeal.