Construction & Infrastructure
Multiple Legal Systems, Concurrent Contracts, Long-Duration Disputes
Few legal disciplines demand the coordination that construction practice does — multiple legal systems, concurrent contracts, layered subcontracting and disputes that unfold across years rather than months. The sector spans international EPC contractors, project sponsors and developers, public-sector contracting authorities, joint venture and consortium arrangements, subcontractors, engineering consultants, equipment suppliers, project finance lenders and bond providers — each occupying a distinct risk position under the applicable contract form.
Mermeroglu Legal advises sponsors, contractors, employers and lenders across the lifecycle of major construction and infrastructure projects, with particular focus on Turkish contractors operating internationally and on foreign investors developing projects in Türkiye, coordinating with applicable foreign law through experienced partners. Turkish contractors hold an established position in international construction, with the second-largest number of firms in the ENR Top 250 globally after the People's Republic of China.
Legal Framework
Three Foundational Dimensions
The Contract Architecture
The allocation of risk in a construction project is established by the contract at the outset — the choice of procurement model (EPC, EPCM, design-build, design-bid-build), the standard form adopted (FIDIC, NEC, AIA or bespoke), and the specific negotiated conditions that modify it. The 1999 FIDIC Rainbow Suite and the 2017 second editions remain in active use internationally. Understanding both the standard text and the specific conditions, and anticipating how they will perform under pressure — during variation disputes, delay events, force majeure circumstances and termination — is the core technical discipline of construction practice.
The Claims Record
Most construction disputes are won or lost on the documentary record built during the project. Extension of time claims, variation entitlements, prolongation cost recovery and force majeure notices each carry strict procedural requirements under FIDIC and equivalent forms — requirements that cannot be remedied retrospectively. The practitioner who advises only after the dispute has crystallised is working with whatever record the contractor happened to create. The practitioner who advises during construction can build a record designed to withstand arbitral scrutiny: contemporaneous notices, properly instructed variations and a programme that demonstrates the causal link between employer acts and contractor time loss.
The Multi-Jurisdictional Dimension
Construction mandates routinely cross multiple legal systems: the law of the host state governs regulatory approvals, land rights and public procurement; the lex contractus of the standard form (often English law on international projects) governs the contract; the procedural law of the arbitration seat governs the dispute resolution process; and where applicable the home jurisdiction of the contractor or sponsor imposes its own compliance obligations. Türkiye's domestic procurement is regulated under Law No. 4734 and Law No. 4735, with disputes resolved before specialist construction courts and through international arbitration under ICC or LCIA rules.
Sub-Sectors
Building Construction (Commercial & Residential)
Legal advisory for office towers, residential developments, mixed-use schemes and large-scale urban projects — covering developer agreements, design and build contracts, subcontractor structures, planning compliance, handover and defect liability and dispute resolution for private-sector construction projects in Türkiye and internationally.
Heavy Civil Infrastructure
Legal support for roads, motorways, bridges, tunnels and rail civil works — including international highway and intercity rail projects under FIDIC Yellow and Silver Book frameworks, public procurement compliance, variation and claim management, environmental considerations and land acquisition for large-scale civil works projects.
Airports & Aviation Infrastructure
Advisory on greenfield and brownfield airport development, terminal expansion and aviation-related infrastructure — covering EPC and design-build contracts, concession agreements, airport operation licences, regulatory approvals, project financing structures and commercial arrangements for terminal, runway and ground handling facility development.
Ports, Harbours & Marine Infrastructure
Legal advisory for container terminals, bulk handling facilities, marinas, dredging works and coastal protection projects — covering port construction contracts, concession and port operation licences, maritime regulatory compliance, coastal zone permissions and the legal structuring of port privatisation and PPP transactions.
Rail & Metro Systems
Legal support for heavy rail, high-speed rail, urban metro and tram systems, including integrated rolling stock and signalling contracting — covering construction and systems integration contracts, operations and maintenance frameworks, public procurement compliance and concession structuring for greenfield and expansion rail projects.
Water Infrastructure
Advisory for dams, water treatment plants, desalination facilities, wastewater systems and irrigation projects — covering EPC contracts, environmental impact assessments, water use licences, land acquisition, project finance structures and regulatory compliance with Turkish water and environmental legislation and lender environmental standards.
Industrial Construction
Legal support for process plants, refineries, petrochemical facilities, manufacturing complexes and integrated industrial parks — covering EPC and turnkey contracts, technology transfer arrangements, equipment supply and commissioning agreements, performance testing regimes and compliance with industrial zoning and environmental permit requirements.
PPP & Concession Projects
Legal structuring for Build-Operate-Transfer, Build-Lease-Transfer and concession arrangements across infrastructure sectors — covering concession agreement negotiation, government guarantee frameworks, lender due diligence support, project finance documentation, risk allocation between public and private parties and regulatory approvals.
Practice Intersections
Practice Areas Engaged in This Sector
Construction and infrastructure sector mandates typically engage several practice areas simultaneously. The principal intersections are set out below.
- Construction, EPC & FIDIC — FIDIC, NEC and bespoke contract drafting; project administration; claims preparation; and contract management.
- International Arbitration & Disputes — construction arbitration before ICC, LCIA and ad hoc tribunals, including DAB and DAAB proceedings.
- Banking & Finance — project finance documentation and lender-side construction risk assessment, including ECA-supported transactions.
- Foreign Direct Investment & Market Entry — establishment of foreign contractors and joint ventures in Türkiye, and structuring of Turkish contractors' international operations.
- Mergers & Acquisitions — acquisition and divestment of construction businesses and project companies.
- White-Collar Defense & Transnational Crimes — anti-corruption compliance, internal investigations and FCPA/UK Bribery Act exposure in international construction operations.
- Debt Recovery & Enforcement — distressed contractor situations, project rescue and claims enforcement against insolvent counterparts.
- Tax & Cross-Border Structuring — permanent establishment exposure for contractors operating across multiple jurisdictions and double tax treaty optimisation.
- Sustainability Finance & ESG — Equator Principles compliance, IFC Performance Standards and environmental and social obligations in project finance structures.
- Corporate Law — joint venture formation, consortium structuring and project company establishment for construction projects.
Regional Reach
Regional Market Profiles
The global construction sector represents an annual market value of approximately fourteen to fifteen trillion United States dollars — among the largest industries by total output. Mermeroglu Legal advises on construction and infrastructure mandates engaging the legal and regulatory frameworks of the following regions and jurisdictions:
MENA is a sustained destination for international construction activity, with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 giga-projects, the UAE's continuing infrastructure programme, Qatar's post-2022 capital programme and Egypt's new administrative capital representing significant pipelines of contracting opportunities for Turkish and other international contractors.
For detailed advice on jurisdictions not listed above — including country-specific procurement frameworks, local content requirements or jurisdiction-specific arbitration procedures — please direct your enquiry through the firm's contact channels.
Standards & Instruments
Principal International Instruments
Construction and infrastructure projects engage a layered framework of international instruments, standard contract forms and industry-issued guidance. The most operationally significant include:
FIDIC Standard Forms of Contract
The Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs-Conseils publishes the most widely used family of international construction contracts globally. The 1999 Rainbow Suite (Red, Yellow, Silver and Green Books) and the substantially revised 2017 second editions remain in active use. FIDIC contracts are routinely adopted in international projects financed by multilateral development institutions and export credit agencies, and form the principal contractual reference for Turkish contractors operating internationally.
NEC Standard Forms (NEC4)
The NEC family of contracts is widely used in the United Kingdom and increasingly in international markets, particularly for infrastructure and rail projects. The NEC's emphasis on early warning, programme management and collaborative working represents a contractual philosophy distinct from FIDIC — with corresponding implications for claims management and dispute avoidance strategies.
New York Convention (1958)
The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards is the foundational instrument for the enforcement of construction arbitral awards across jurisdictions. In force in over 170 States, including Türkiye since 1991 and the principal arbitration seats used in construction disputes — London, Paris, Geneva, Singapore and Istanbul.
ICC Rules of Arbitration
The Rules of the International Chamber of Commerce are the most frequently chosen procedural framework for international construction disputes. ICC tribunals routinely sit in Paris, London, Geneva, Singapore or Istanbul, applying the substantive law selected in the underlying contract — typically English law for international projects or Turkish law for domestic procurement.
ICSID Convention (1965)
Where construction disputes engage state or state-owned counterparts and arise out of foreign investment, the ICSID Convention provides the principal procedural framework for investor-state arbitration. ICSID awards benefit from automatic recognition in over 150 Contracting States. Investment treaty protections under Türkiye's bilateral investment treaty network have been invoked in a number of construction-sector disputes involving Turkish contractors abroad.
Equator Principles & IFC Performance Standards
Where construction projects are financed under international project finance structures, the Equator Principles and the IFC Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability are routinely incorporated into the financing documentation and impose binding obligations on project participants — covering environmental impact, labour rights, community engagement and biodiversity.
Bilateral Investment Treaties
Investment treaties to which Türkiye is a party afford Turkish contractors operating internationally protections including fair and equitable treatment, protection from unlawful expropriation and direct access to international arbitration. Türkiye's extensive BIT network — covering over 90 countries — is operationally significant for Turkish contractors operating in MENA, Africa and Central Asia.
Our Approach
How Mermeroglu Legal Engages
Construction mandates routinely cross multiple legal systems: the law of the host state, the procedural law of the arbitration seat, the lex contractus of the relevant standard form — which may itself draw on multiple legal traditions — and where applicable the home jurisdiction of the contractor or sponsor. Our practice is structured to coordinate across those legal systems in a way that preserves contractual position while remaining technically defensible across each tier of the dispute resolution architecture.
Each mandate is led by a single matter principal at the firm, supported by an internal team drawing on construction contracting, EPC and FIDIC, international arbitration, project finance and public procurement practices. Where the matter requires advice on the law of jurisdictions outside Türkiye, we work through long-standing alliance arrangements with foreign counsel — particularly in the principal construction jurisdictions of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia where Turkish contractors are most active.
We place specific emphasis on contemporaneous record-keeping and contractual administration. Most construction disputes are won or lost on the documentary record built during the project; we therefore work with clients on standing protocols for notices, claims and variation administration, rather than only on dispute response after the fact.
Initial enquiries relating to construction and infrastructure matters may be directed to the firm's main contact channels. Where the matter concerns a specific transaction, dispute or regulatory question, the firm will identify the relevant matter principal and constitute the appropriate internal and alliance team.
INITIAL ENQUIRIES
Construction and infrastructure mandates are handled through coordinated internal and alliance teams with EPC, FIDIC, arbitration and project finance expertise across jurisdictions.
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