OVERVIEW

Overall, the construction industry is performing quite well in many European countries. For example, in France and Germany there is strong private investment in the real estate and industry sectors. Public entities still maintain important investment in infrastructure projects, such as the Grand Paris Project, which remains a shining example of public investment.

However, construction costs - notably materials and labor costs - are increasing across Europe (Arcadis International Construction Cost 2019), which directly affects projects that are already ongoing.

Moreover, and probably as a result of construction market increasing demand, owners and contractors are sometimes experiencing difficulties to sufficiently staff projects.

In this context, in 2018, the Continental Europe region saw another increase in the average value of disputes at $41 million, the highest average value for the region since 2011. This year follows the trend of 2017, with Continental Europe's average value at the second highest among the regions, after the Middle East, illustrating increasing project amounts. However, this number could be partly driven by this year's most costly dispute from our survey results, which at $600 million is much larger than last year's largest dispute of $180 million.

While the average volume of disputes has remained the same, the average time taken to resolve disputes increased to 20 months this year. Though this year's report highlights growing efforts in early dispute resolution methods, such as an increased use of mediation or dispute boards, Continental Europe remains the region with the longest dispute duration. This confirms a clear trend over the past few years regarding the region's difficulty to solve disputes in a timely manner.