Home / Services / Expert Witness and Dispute Support

Expert Witness and Dispute Support

An expert report is written for the court or the tribunal, not for the party paying for it. That distinction is the whole value of it.

What we cover.

Structural disputes usually turn on one technical question: what caused the damage, and was the work that led to it adequate. Answering it requires the same engineering as any other assessment, delivered under a duty that overrides the instructing party. We produce structural expert reports, act on a single joint expert basis, and provide technical support to legal teams who need the engineering explained before they can argue it.

Structural expert witness reports
Single joint expert appointments
Cause of damage and defect causation analysis
Assessment of whether design or workmanship was adequate
Insurance claim support, including subsidence disputes
Party wall and neighbouring works damage assessment
Review and critique of another engineer's report
Technical briefing for legal teams before proceedings

In detail

What expert witness and dispute support actually involves.

Causation

The most common instruction is causation: cracking has appeared, more than one thing could have caused it, and somebody needs to say which. That is answered by evidence rather than by opinion, which means the inspection, the monitoring where it is warranted, and the sequence of what happened when.

Adequacy

The second most common is adequacy: whether a design or a piece of construction met the standard reasonably expected at the time it was done, which is a question about the codes in force then rather than the codes in force now.

Stating the limits

Both types of report state their assumptions and their limitations explicitly, because a report that overstates its certainty is taken apart in cross-examination.

Independence

We decline instructions where we have a prior interest in the work, the site or a party to the dispute, and we disclose any connection before accepting rather than after. An expert's value is their independence, and the moment it has to be established under cross-examination rather than declared at the outset, it is already worth less.

How Lead Group helps

We take instructions on causation and on adequacy, carry out the inspection and any monitoring the question needs, and write a report that states its assumptions and its limits. Where the evidence does not support a firm conclusion we say so, because a report that overstates its certainty fails at the first challenge.

How we work

What does a structural expert witness actually do?

Establishes the engineering facts for a dispute and states them under a duty owed to the court rather than to the instructing party. In practice that usually means determining what caused damage where several causes are possible, or whether a design or piece of construction was adequate against the standards in force when it was done. The report sets out the evidence, the reasoning, the assumptions and the limitations, so it can be tested rather than simply asserted.

Duty to the court stated and observed
Causation answered from evidence, not assertion
Adequacy judged against the codes in force at the time
Assumptions and limitations stated explicitly
Professional indemnity insured

Not sure what you need?Send us your drawings, or just a photograph of the wall. We will tell you what is required and what it costs before you commit to anything.

Get a quote 020 3432 4186

Standards & codes

The codes behind expert witness and dispute support.

Eurocodes 0-9 & UK National Annexes

BS EN 1990 through BS EN 1999 govern the basis of design, actions, and the design of concrete, steel, timber, masonry and aluminium structures. Every calculation we issue references the relevant Eurocode part and its UK National Annex, and states which parts were applied.

Analysis, design & drafting software

Structural analysis and design in Tekla Tedds and Tekla Structural Designer, with Autodesk Robot, CSC Fastrak, CSC Portal Frame, MasterSeries and Hilti Profis used where a scheme suits them. Drawing production in AutoCAD, and modelling in Autodesk Revit where a project is delivered in BIM. Output is issued as readable calculations rather than raw software printouts, so a checker or a building control officer can follow the reasoning.

Approved Document A (Structure)

The Building Regulations requirement your local authority Building Control checks against. Our calculations and drawings are prepared to demonstrate compliance so your submission is accepted without back-and-forth.

Professional indemnity insured

Every report and calculation package is backed by professional indemnity cover, which is what lets a lender, Building Control or another engineer rely on it.

Process

From enquiry to sign-off.

Enquiry

Send drawings or describe the problem. We confirm the scope, the deliverables and a target timescale.

Information

We agree the survey, drawings or data we need and any site access required.

Engineering

Design, calculation or assessment to the relevant Eurocodes and UK National Annex.

Issue

A clear, defensible report or set of calculations, with assumptions and limitations stated.

Selected work

Real structures, surveyed and engineered.

All work →

Sport and recreationCharlton Athletic FC, The ValleyTwo steel monopitch stand roofs rising to 27 metres were assessed for a proposed solar PV installation. Both were cleared to carry the arrays as they stand, and the fragile roofs were surveyed entirely by drone with nobody working at height.

Read →

Manufacturing and industrialWienerberger, Tamworth

EducationCarlisle College

Film and mediaDragon Studios, Pencoed

Questions

Common questions

Can you act as a single joint expert?

Yes. A single joint expert is instructed by both parties and owes the same overriding duty to the court, which often resolves a technical dispute far more cheaply than two opposing experts. It requires the instruction to be genuinely joint, and we will say at the outset if we have any connection to either party that would make the appointment inappropriate.

Will you write a report that supports our case?

We will write a report that states what the engineering shows. If that supports your case, it will be far more useful than one written to order, because the other side will test it. If it does not, you are better knowing before proceedings than during them, and we will tell you plainly.

Can you review another engineer's report?

Yes. Reviewing and critiquing an existing report is common, particularly where a claim has been declined on technical grounds or where a report has reached a conclusion the evidence does not obviously support. The output identifies what the report establishes, what it assumes, and where the reasoning does not hold.

Do you handle subsidence and insurance disputes?

Yes. Subsidence claims turn on causation, which is exactly the question expert work answers: whether movement is active, what is driving it, and whether the trigger falls within the policy. That usually needs monitoring over time rather than a single visit, and we will say so rather than guess.

What is the difference between an expert report and a structural survey?

A survey records the condition of a building for the person who commissioned it. An expert report answers a defined question for a dispute, under a duty to the court, with the reasoning exposed so it can be challenged. They involve similar inspection but they are written to different standards and for different readers.

Do you check for conflicts of interest before accepting?

Yes, and we disclose rather than assume. We decline where we have a prior interest in the work, the site, or a party involved, including where the original design or survey came through a company connected to us. Independence stated up front is worth more than independence defended later.

Explore more