The Modern-day Changes & Challenges to the Construction Industry

HKA is teaming up with the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) to present an interactive webinar discussing the changes in the construction industry with a special focus on Malaysia.

In this session Shamila Neelakandan (HKA), Pirodja Lawyer (HKA), Belden Premaraj (Messrs Belden) and Choon Hon Leng (Messrs Raja, Darryl & Loh) catch up to explore with you, a broad range of topics from an overview of the building, construction and engineering processes, to controversial claim costs, and even approach buzz topic, Building Information Modelling.

Shamila Neelakandan
Partner and Head of Operations Malaysia, HKA

Shamila Neelakandan is a dual qualified Lawyer (Malaysia and UK) with 25 years of legal, contracts and commercial experience in the construction industry. In addition to her legal qualifications, she is also a Fellow with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.Shamila commenced her career in 1996 as a lawyer focusing on dispute resolution in Malaysia. She acted as counsel in various disputes before High Court and arbitral tribunals in Malaysia, some of which involving international contractors based in the UK.

Shamila was fortunate to be given the opportunity to further develop her career in international dispute resolution beyond her native Malaysia. She worked as a Senior Solicitor for Osborne Clarke in the United Kingdom in 2005, where she was involved in disputes on rail and infrastructure projects in Ghana, Ireland and across the Great Britain.

Shamila’s international career then progressed to project consulting in 2007, after completing ten years as a practicing lawyer. Since then, she has worked on major projects, including power generation & water desalination, oil & gas, and rail & infrastructure opportunities throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Some of the key mega projects worked on include first of a kind projects such as the biggest power and water desalination plant in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Shuaibah), the Dubai Metro, UAE, Bosporus Crossing in Turkey, Kusile Power Plant, South Africa and two supercritical technology power plants in Malaysia.

Shamila has through her experience on projects developed expertise in tender negotiations, procurement, commercial strategy and claims management. She continues to undertake advocacy work in consulting services through negotiations, presentations and case management services in dispute resolution.

Shamila previously had a regional role in HKA with a practice responsibility for the consulting group’s businesses in Asia, Middle East and Africa. She now heads the Malaysian operations and has a profit and loss responsibility within the business for the local region.

Shamila is a member of the Society of Construction law and is on the Roll of Solicitors, England & Wales (non practising). She is also a recipient of the Chevening Scholarship that was awarded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK to pursue a Master of Laws at King’s College, London in 2003.

Shamila is considered a thought leader in her field and regularly advises boards of directors of multi-national organisations around the world on project turnaround and financial recovery assignments. She is also a frequent public speakers and seminars and conferences in Asia. Her professional capacity aside, Shamila works with young achievers who are keen to make a difference in their professional, academic and communal life, which is something she finds very inspiring.

Belden Premaraj
Principal Partner, Belden Advocates & Solicitors

Belden is the principal partner and head of Belden Advocates & Solicitors, a construction & engineering dispute resolution and advisory practice.

He has specialised in arbitration practice for the past 22 years with a focus on the construction, engineering, energy & utilities and oil & gas industries.

Prior to establishing Belden Advocates & Solicitors, he was an associate in Skrine and later headed the Construction Litigation practice group of Sivananthan, Advocates & Solicitors for 14 years.

He is also regularly appointed as an arbitrator for construction & engineering disputes.

Choon Hon Leng
Partner – Dispute Resolution, Construction, Infrastructure & Energy, Raja, Darryl & Loh

Hon Leng’s niche is in Infrastructure Projects with clients that are Government–owned infrastructure companies – involving, for example, mass rapid transit and government housing projects . He has also advised various players in the construction industry, including employers, main contractors, subcontractors and consultants in projects of various sizes and types. Hence his experience includes pre-contract negotiation, contract documentation, project advice, post-dispute negotiation and formal dispute resolution (including construction adjudication under the Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012). He has also acted as lead counsel in several construction arbitrations, notably as the lead counsel for an arbitration held in the People’s Republic of China involving Malaysian and Chinese entities where the proceedings were conducted wholly in Mandarin under the CIETAC arbitration rules.

In addition, Hon Leng has handled disputes in intellectual property and has developed his expertise to dispute management, advising on matters as complex as infrastructure building, network sharing, network services, equipment procurement/upgrading and data security.

AsiaLaw Profiles in its 2017 publication listed Hon Leng as a Rising Star Lawyer, in its 2018 and 2019 publications as a Leading Lawyer and in its 2020 publication as a Distinguished Practitioner. He is the Vice-President of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Malaysia Branch) for 2019-2020.