Personal bio
Testifying Architect Expert Witness conducting investigations primarily for the insurance and legal professions, including the investigation of; building failures due defective design and workmanship; fire safety defects; scope of work, design approvals and variation disputes.
• Named expert for; ICC and DIAC arbitrations; civil proceedings in Scotland and England. Testified in the IFC Courts and DIAC arbitrations, notable cases include:
Façade design variation dispute, Museum of the Future, Dubai, [DIFC court CFI-106-2021] Named expert for façade sub-contractors successful defence and counter claim for design variations against main contractor claimant. Austen produced expert reports, presented to the court, testified in court and participated in witness conferencing.
Design variation dispute, confidential industrial building, United Kingdom Austen produced a response report for his Contractor client’s successful defence in a multi-million pound adjudication with its Employer regarding alleged failure to spatial co-ordinate the building.
Design coordination dispute, confidential building, Bahrain. Austen provided expert witness services to the defendants in relation to a dispute under an architectural and engineering consultancy services agreement, in one of the few cases to be heard and determined in English by the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution.
Fire safety defects, multiple multi-storey residential buildings, United Kingdom. Austen has undertaken multiple desktop assessments into fire safety defects regarding the design, specification and workmanship of varying type of external façade cladding.
Code compliance of hotel building, Dubai Austen investigated and opined on the compliance of a hotel design with Dubai Building Code following a fatal fire.
Failure of tiling, multi-tower residential development, Dubai. Austen investigated and opined on the failure of ceramic wall tiling to bathrooms at a residential tower complex in Dubai.
Glass damage, confidential governmental building, North Africa. Austen investigated and opined on the causation of damage to multiple panes of glass at a governmental building in North Africa.
Water damage to hotel rooms, five star hotel, Tokyo. Austen investigated and opined on the causation of water damage to bathrooms at a five star hotel in Tokyo.