Stuart Downes

Stuart Downes is a Managing Director in the Construction, Projects & Assets practice of FTI Consulting and is based in Perth, Australia.

Stuart is a chartered quantity surveyor, and specialises in the preparation of expert reports, submissions for adjudication, advising and working in conjunction with client law firms in the preparation of claims for delay and disruption costs, extension of time and disputed variations on high profile projects and disputes in preparation for arbitration or litigation.

Stuart has worked in both Australia and the UK and has more than 25 years’ experience in the commercial, contractual and claims management of projects, ranging from ports, gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas (‘LNG’) and floating liquefied natural gas (‘FLNG’), mining and resources, power generation, marine civil, heavy and light rail, utilities (electricity, water and wastewater), renewable energy, stadiums, airports, schools and commercial/residential developments. Stuart has worked with a wide range of standard and bespoke construction and engineering forms of contract, including the NEC3 and more traditional contracts (lump sum, with or without quantities), design, build and maintain, model forms and a variety of framework agreements.

Stuart’s recent assignments include his appointment as quantum expert in support of an adjudication application regarding various delay events associated with the construction of a green hydrogen production facility in Western Australia and appointment as quantum expert in an ad-hoc international commercial Arbitration to provide opinion as to the reasonable cost of undertaking certain civil rectification works at a container port in Papua New Guinea.

Stuart is consistently recognised by Lexology Index as a leading global construction consultant and expert witness for his ability to handle high complex matters and produce high quality reports. He is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (‘RICS’) (quantity surveying and construction), Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an RICS Accredited Expert Witness. Stuart is also an RICS Assessment of Professional Competence (‘APC’) Assessor.