Expertise

Ewan is an associate specialising in public procurement law. He advises on the full suite of procurement documents, the design and conduct of procurement processes, and all associated issues (including contract modification, the availability of direct award grounds, and conflicts of interest). Ewan also advises clients on strategies for bringing and resolving procurement challenges. Ewan is advising clients on the transition to the Procurement Act 2023 and his experience includes projects in the utilities, transport, defence and central government sectors.

Ewan was the driving force behind the creation of an online "evaluation platform" to assist clients during procurement processes, which was commended at the Financial Times Legal Innovation awards 2024 and is part of the submission that has been shortlisted for the 2025 European Legal Innovation & Technology Awards

 

Experience

Ewan regularly advises on critical national infrastructure projects, with values often running into the billions of pounds. Recent experience includes advising:

  • United Utilities on the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme, the first use of the DPC (Direct Procurement for Customers) model in the UK water sector.
  • ScotRail Trains on various rolling stock procurement programmes under which it plans to replace 65% of its current fleets over 10 years.
  • A public infrastructure provider on multiple high-value procurements of multi-lot, multi-disciplinary frameworks to deliver upgrades and repairs to railway lines across the UK
  • National Grid on its multi-billion pound procurement for the delivery of an initial nine major electricity infrastructure projects across the UK (one of the largest procurements conducted under the UCR 2016).
  • Highlands and Islands Airports on the procurement of a Property Management Function and Computer Aided Facilities Management System to support the management of HIAL’s Facilities Management (FM)
  • Department for Transport, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing agency on five separate procurements relating to digital transformations. 
  • Bruntwood on procurement related aspects of the development and construction of a £75m addition to Manchester Science Park.
  • West Midlands Combined Authority on procurement issues (relating to contract modifications under the PCR 2015) surrounding the construction of three train stations in Birmingham.
  • Transport for Greater Manchester on the complex procurement of a concession partner to develop high quality and sustainable bus shelter infrastructure and modernise advertising inventory.
Education
  • University of Law – Legal Practice Course (2018)
  • University of Liverpool – Law LLB (2017)