Dr. Paul Tracey

School of Science, Engineering and Environment

Photo of Dr. Paul Tracey

Contact Details

Maxwell Building Room 415

Please email for an appointment.

Current positions

Senior Lecturer In Construction Law

Biography

I am a dual qualified Chartered Quantity Surveyor with a degree in law and over 35 years’ experience of construction projects around the World.

An experienced Commercial Manager, Claims Manager and Expert Witness, I have been instructed on complex disputes in the following sectors: building, manufacturing, nuclear, offshore and onshore oil and gas, petrochemical, pipelines, power, process, rail, renewable energy and utilities.

I have considerable international experience gained in Africa, Australia, the CIS, Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia, South America and the USA.

I also have a wide range of dispute avoidance and dispute resolution experience on international construction projects including acting as an Expert Witness in both litigation, arbitration and adjudication.

I am an award winning and innovative construction law lecturer:

Winner Of The University of Salford Student Union inaugural “Best Teacher Of The Year 2012”Twice

Shortlisted For The Times Higher Education Awards 2012 & 2015 (Highly Commended) In The Category Of “Most Innovative University Teacher In The UK”

Nominated For A National Teaching Fellowship 2013 By The University Of Salford Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic)Winner Of The University of Salford Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award 2013 & 2017

Originator of the CLDR 15 and Rich Pictures In Construction Law teaching and learning interventions

Areas of research

The influence of national culture on the preparation, evaluation and negotiation of time and money claims on international construction projects., The pedagogy and andragogy of innovative teaching and learning interventions, particularly in a cyclical blended learning setting, and the power of co-creation between the lecturer, students and industry in teaching, learning and professional development

Areas of supervision

Legal issues arising in relation to international construction, Time and money claims on international construction projects. , 5D to 7D Building (or Asset) Information Modelling specifically in the context of national and industry culture., The adoption of a Constructivist Grounded Theory as a research strategy to explicate research problems in the international construction sector.

Teaching

I teach at both undergraduate and postgraduate level in construction law as well as leading the Construction Law & Practice LLM/MSc programme. At undergraduate level I teach Level 6 students and I am module leader for the Construction Law & Dispute Resolution module. At postgraduate level I am the module leader for the Liability & Complexity In Construction Law module. 

Research Interests

Increasingly, construction professionals earn their living working internationally.  In so doing, they not only encounter different approaches to their practice and experience different national cultures, they also transition legal systems.

A number of troublesome issues repeatedly manifest themselves on projects around the world. National culture is seen as a particularly intangible and immutable troublesome issue in the international construction sector but is often only considered at a superficial level. A major part of my research interests revolve around addressing these troublesome issues by applying theory to practice with a focus on the significance of the research to industry.

My other main area of research interest focuses on innovative teaching and learning interventions and, in particular, Object Based Learning and Rich Pictures In Construction Law as entry points from which global perspectives on construction law can be viewed. The approach involves taking participant observations from 35 years in the construction industry and seeking to create theoretical frameworks that explicate challenging issues in industry before taking the theory back in to industry to be applied in practice in order to determine its efficacy as a professional development tool.

Qualifications and Memberships

Qualifications 

  • BSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying,
  • LLB, PGCE, MRICS, MCIArb, FHEA

Post graduate research

PhD Thesis: “The Influence Of National Culture On The Preparation, Evaluation And Negotiation  Of Claims On International Construction Projects: A Constructivist Grounded Theory” The University of Salford