Ekrem Kaya
SCL Türkiye / Vice President | Civil Engineer
Ekrem is a widely experienced civil engineer with 23 years of construction industry experience. Ekrem’s broad experience spans the fields of construction project management, project controls, project assurance, contract management, claims management, forensic delay analysis, cost control and various forms of dispute resolution. He has worked on projects in Turkey and across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, including high-profile oil and gas, civil engineering, building and transportation projects.
Ekrem has been managing Turkey operations of HKA, a global construction consultancy, expert witness and financial damages firm, for 11 years.
Ekrem also has comprehensive practical knowledge of all forms of delay analysis, specialising in the “Windows” and “Time Impact Analysis” methods; predominantly in circumstances where previous submissions based on other forms of analysis were not persuasive or successful. He is adept with all forms of planning software and has experience with a wide range of programmes used to effectively manage construction projects.
Ekrem has been appointed as expert witness on numerous occasions and has been cross-examined several times, including giving concurrent evidence (hot tubbing). He has experience in complex international construction disputes, including major investment treaty (ISCID and UNCITRAL) arbitrations, and has been appointed as a dispute adjudication board (DAB) chairman and arbitrator in high profile international construction disputes.
Ekrem has also been heavily involved in the defence and rebuttal of claim submissions on behalf of contracting organisations. He specialises in the provision of strategic advice relating to claims and assessment of entitlement to additional payment in the context of delay and changed circumstances.
Ekrem is fluent in both Turkish and English. He conducts various seminars on issues ranging from delay analysis, quantum, risk allocation under domestic and international forms of contracts, roles of experts in dispute resolution processes and effective management of construction contracts. Ekrem is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Chamber of Civil Engineers in Istanbul, a practising member of the Academy of Experts and is dual-qualified with an LLM in construction law and arbitration, in addition to his BS degree in civil engineering and his MSc degree in geotechnical engineering.