About Niek
Niek is a partner and attorney with La Gro. He has been practising construction, and national and European procurement law for 28+ years. He advises businesses and local authorities in both contentious and non-contentious matters. He has proven expertise in advising and negotiating in respect of all manner of construction contracts (such as UAV, UAV-gc and FIDIC), public tenders and public contracts, such as concessions and public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI and DBFM(O) contracts). He is also a specialist in architectural law and assists architects of the Dutch Architects’ Association (BNA). If it is not possible to reach an amicable solution, he regularly represents clients in construction and procurement-related disputes before the Construction Arbitration Council, courts and dispute committees. He successfully completed the Grotius Academy specialisation qualification in European and Dutch Procurement Law, and also completed two highly specialised courses in Construction Law at the Institute of Construction Law.
Expertise
- Architectural law
- Civil construction (contract) law
- Procurement law
Qualifications and experience
- Law (Erasmus University Rotterdam, 1994)
- Netherlands Institute for Construction Law (Construction Law programme, 1998, private law)
- Netherlands Institute for Construction Law (Construction Law programme, 1999, public law)
- Grotius Specialisation Programme (European and Dutch Procurement Law, 2010)
- Grotius Specialisation Programme (follow-up programme in Procurement Law, 2012)
- Grotius Specialisation Programme (follow-up programme in Procurement Law, 2015)
- Member of the Dutch Procurement Law Association
- Member of the Association of Construction Lawyers
- Member of the Lighthouse Club, Rijnsteden department
- Netlaw/Netlaw Academy, section coordinator for procurement law and civil construction law
- Royal Institute of Dutch Architects (legal surgery at BNA, western region)
Recent cases
- Court proceedings on the question of whether completing the construction of a house would infringe on the architect’s copyright in case of disagreement on the correctness of a progress invoice
- Advising a building contractor on whether extra work is part of the contract or constitutes contract extras (that were submitted in time)
- Advising and assisting a globally renowned museum with respect to an invitation to tender
- Assisting in a private invitation to tender for the expansion of a tomb
- Drawing up a contractor agreement for a new industrial building for a timber yard
- Dispute before the Arbitration Board for the Building Industry on the final settlement of a collaboration between a developer and a contractor
Publications
- JAAN, issue 6, 8 October 2020, no. 121, note to KG Court of Amsterdam, RBAMS:2020:2903 (together with D. Britsemmer LLM)
- JAAN, issue 2, 23 March 2019, no. 26, note to CJEU 28 November 2018, C-328/1
