Legal risk identification for SMEs in the construction industry

This research contributes to a European Union (EU) funded project "Risk Management Software System for SMEs in the Construction Industry (RiMaCon)." The aim was to identify relevant legal risks with a view to manage them. A critical literature review was undertaken and the themes that emerged included procurement, building information modelling, building regulation and construction contract issues including delay, claims and dispute resolution. A case study approach was adopted as the researcher benefitted from a secondment to an SME contractor in Italy where pilot interviews were undertaken. The paper concludes that the literature review seems to have identified legal risks relevant to construction SMEs which will be investigated further.