Event

Public Infrastructure needs to meet a range of challenging demands. As well as meeting the performance demands inherent to the relevant work, the key demands of value, safety, and high environmental performance combine to make for an often overwhelming number of drivers during the procurement, delivery and maintenance of that infrastructure. Increasingly the public sector must also pay careful attention to the needs of infrastructure that must be repurposed, or maintained as it ages. Finally the stakeholders in infrastructure must deal with the legal, commercial and technical challenges that arise at the end of life.

This event brings together a number of international experts to exchange perspectives on these issues from a legal perspective.

The programme contains further details about the event. 

Speakers

• Professor Mario Comba, Professor of Public Comparative Law at the University of Torino,
  and Member of the Committee on Public Procurement of the Italian Government
• Professor Francois Lichère, Professor of Law and Director of the Chair of Public Contracts
  Law at the university of Jean Moulin Lyon 3
• Pierre-Antoine Rohan, Lawyer, Formerly of the PPP Unit at the French Treasury
• Dr. Roxana Vornicu, Senior Lecturer King´s College London, Managing Partner Sirbu & Vornicu Law Firm, Bucharest, Romania
• Kate Gough, Partner of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
• Ing. Pietro Petrucco, Incoming President of the FIEC (European Construction Industry Federation)
• Lionel Gros, Deputy General Manager – TELT - France
• Paolo Giana, King's College London
• Darya Bahram, RIBA, MAPM, MCIArb - Research Associate, King's College London

Speaker biographies

Professor Mario Eugenio Comba
Lawyer, Professor the Law Department of the University of Torino (Italy), where he teaches

Mario Eugenio Comba is Professor at the Law Department of the University of Torino (Italy), where he teaches Comparative Economic Law and Comparative Public Law.

He is Member of the Council of the European Law Institute, (www.europeanlawinstitute.eu) and Member of the Scientific Board of the Master “Gouvernance et management des marchés publics en appui au développement durable”, organized by the UN Agency BIT-OIL with the Faculté de Sciences Politiques, Paris and the University of Torino.

With Carina Risvig Hamer he edited Centralising Public Procurement. The Approach of Member States in Europe, Cheltenham, Elgar publishing, 2021 and is now preparing a book on Framework Agreements in EU and comparative Law.

He is a member of the working group on public contracts, appointed by the Italian Government and he was (2016-2021) member of the Board and then President of the central purchasing body for the Regione Piemonte.

Mr. Comba is also a practising lawyer and has been advising both public and private clients in the last 30 years on public procurements, privatization and public services.

Professor Francois Lichère
Professor of Law and Director of the Chair of Public Contracts Law à l’Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3

François is Professor of public law at the University of Jean Moulin Lyon 3 and a public procurement expert. After obtaining a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Montpellier and a diploma from Aix-en-Provence's Institute of Political Studies, he obtained a Master Degree in Public Law in 1993 and a PhD at the University of Montpellier in 1998. He was appointed public law lecturer in 1999 and public law professor in 2000.

He currently teaches public contracts law, economy & public law and administrative law at Bachelor and Master levels in Lyon. He has published numerous books and articles, in French and in English, mainly concerning public law contracts and economy & public law.

He co-authored a book entitled "Administrative contracts law" in French (12th edition of September 2021). He is also co-editor of the book "Enforcement of EU public procurement rules" (Djof publishing, 2011) in English, and co-editor of "Public Procurement Law: Damages as an effective remedy" (Hart Publishing, 2011). He published numerous articles in French and English dealing notably with public procurement and PPPs. François is also Director of the Chair on public contracts law which he created in 2020 and consultant to law firms, public authorities and enterprises.

Pierre-Antoine Rohan
Lawyer, Formerly of the PPP Unit at the French Treasury

Pierre-Antoine Rohan is a French qualified lawyer with 15 years of experience advising on the construction and financing of large-scale infrastructure projects in France, Europe and Francophone Africa.

Pierre-Antoine’s experience spans the entire project lifecycle and includes negotiations between public authorities, contractors, operators and financial institutions and disputes resolution.

Prior to launching his own firm (Rohan Avocats), Pierre-Antoine served at the French PPP Unit (French Treasury). Before that, he held the position of Head-of-Legal to a major French construction company. He began his career as an avocat à la Cour, practising in two Parisian firms where he worked on various PPPs transactions.

Pierre-Antoine holds a Master's degree in Public Business Law from the University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and an MSc in Construction Law and Dispute Resolution from King's College London.

Pierre-Antoine is a member of the Society of Construction Law - France (SCL), where he is actively involved in the Commission dedicated to public and private construction contracts.

Dr. Roxana Vornicu
Senior Lecturer King´s College London, Managing Partner Sirbu & Vornicu Law Firm, Bucharest, Romania

Dr. Roxana Vornicu, a practicing construction and procurement lawyer, joined King´s College London as a Research Associate in 2020. She holds a PhD in public procurement law from a doctorate program in Italy, the UK and France. Prior to joining King´s, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Turin, Italy where she focused her research on central purchasing bodies and a comparative review of framework agreements in the EU.

For the past three years, she has lectured at Saïd Business School, Oxford University, teaching about international treaties and their impact on construction contracts. She has also taught at Stuttgart University, the International Construction: Practice and Law (MBE) course, lecturing on collaborative construction contracts.

At King´s, Roxana has been involved in several research programs, including one that looked into procurement strategies for incentivising collaborative delivery to optimise whole-life outcomes. She contributed to the drafting of the White Paper: 'Procurement Strategies for incentivising collaborative delivery to optimize whole-life outcomes’ developed by King’s Centre of Construction Law and the University of Cambridge Laing O'Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology and published by the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB).

She worked on the report: 'Procuring Net Zero Construction' which was published by the Society of Construction Law and endorsed by the UK Government in the September 2022 ´Construction Playbook´ and ´Guidance on Promoting Net Zero Carbon and Sustainability in Construction.'

Kate Gough
Partner of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Kate is a partner in our Global Projects Disputes Practice and head of the UK Public Procurement team. She specialises in complex contentious and non-contentious public procurement, construction and infrastructure matters.

Kate has advised public and private sector clients on a wide range of major domestic and international projects and disputes across a variety of sectors, including nuclear, transport, infrastructure, healthcare and defence.

Kate is a regular contributor to articles on public procurement. She is on the board of the Public Procurement Law Review, the executive committee of the Procurement Lawyers' Association and has been recognised by Chambers UK 2024 and Law.com Rising Stars including for her work on public procurement and delivery of major projects.

Ing. Pietro Petrucco
Incoming President of the FIEC (European Construction Industry Federation)

CEO of I.CO.P. S.p.A. Benefit Corporation, the family construction company founded in 1920, together with his brother Vittorio collaborates in the management of all I.CO.P. S.p.A Group Italian and foreign businesses.

Operating in foundation, maritime and microtunnel works and constructions, in 2023 ICOP Group had a turnover of over 100 million euro.

He is:

• Vice President of ANCE’s National Council (the Italian National Association of Builders), with responsibility for the Study Centre since 2022;
• President of the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC) since 2024;
• Deputy Vice President of Confindustria Udine (the General Confederation of Italian Industry – Udine office).

He has been also volunteering in several associations, in particular in associations dealing with housing deprivation problem and in an association, Sudin Onlus, which has given birth to and has been supporting for over 10 years a vocational in South Sudan.

Lionel Gros
Deputy General Manager – TELT - France

Lionel GROS, railway engineer, developed an in-depth railway infrastructure maintenance experience within SNCF.

Early 2015, he joined the KEOLIS Group as urban Railway Infrastructure & Asset Management expert.

Mid 2018, he was appointed Chief Engineering Officer of the BOSTON (US) Commuter Rail System, responsible for ensuring safe, reliable, and compliant infrastructure assets, and driving the highest performance standards. 650 miles of tracks, a workforce of 700 people and a yearly maintenance budget of $100 million.

In 2021, he joined TELT company, as Railway Director and Deputy General Manager. He is especially responsible for developing strategies, business models and roadmaps to ensure TELT readiness for its future Infrastructure Manager’s role. He is also directly overseeing the preparation of the technical equipment mega-contract of circa €3 billion. TELT is the binational public promoter (France Italy) in charge of the construction and operation of the cross-border section mixed rail line (FRET-LGV) for the future Lyon-Turin link.

Paolo Giana,
Research Associate, King's College London

Paolo is an Associate Information Management Consultant with extensive experience in the digital transformation of large organisations and in complex construction projects and programmes' design, construction and handover stages. He specialises in defining client requirements and in managing and deploying common data environments aligned with ISO-19650 standards.

Paolo has developed a cross-disciplinary approach to information management. He has extensive experience in managing teams, working closely with clients and their representatives, facilitating the collaboration of consultants and maximising the design team’s efficiency.

Paolo got a PhD at Politecnico di Milano and supports the Centre of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution at King’s College London as a Research Associate on the topic of information management and Collaborative contracts. He is a published author with recognised BIM experience.

Darya Bahram, RIBA, MAPM, MCIArb
Research Associate, King's College London

Darya Bahram RIBA, MAPM, MCIArb is a Research Associate at the King’s College London Centre of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution, Vice chair at Radcliffe Housing Society. She has held senior role at the Association of Consultant Architects as Secretary General, Head of Professional Appointments at Assael Architecture and is currently one of the committee members of the Construction Blockchain Consortium. Darya is a published author and speaker on a range of topics including ‘Procuring Net zero carbon construction’ , ‘Procurement strategies for incentivizing collaborative delivery to optimize whole-life outcomes’, ‘Blockchain and smart contracts’, ‘Disruptive technology and collaborative contracts’, ‘Modern methods of construction: contractual mechanisms supporting long term relationships’ and ‘Guidance on Collaborative Procurement for Design and Construction to Support Building Safety’.

This is an in-person event and we warmly welcome all with interest. A drinks reception will follow shortly after the lecture.