Diana Burger is a senior associate in the Construction team of our Johannesburg office.

She advises on contentious and commercial matters in the construction, infrastructure and renewable energy sectors on various projects, with a particular focus on contract negotiations, dispute avoidance strategies and dispute resolution proceedings. Diana has advised lenders, employers, contractors and operators mostly on large-scale energy and infrastructure projects across Southern Africa.

Diana has obtained a B. Com Law and LLB from the University of Pretoria and was admitted as an attorney of the High Court of South Africa in 2012.

Associations and Training:

• She is a presenter for the Law Society of South Africa / Legal Education and Development in an online course in Construction and Engineering Law.
• She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Construction Adjudication Association of South Africa and provides training to prospective adjudicators as part of courses presented by the Construction Adjudication Association of South Africa.

Relevant Experience

Contentious Matters

• Acting for the employer, a state-owned entity, to defend delay and disruption contract claims in adjudication proceedings in relation to the performance of a boiler-works contract at coal-fired power stations.
• Acting for a contractor (a multinational company that designs and builds electrical systems and provides services for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security markets) against a state-owned entity (responsible for most passenger rail services in the country) in relation to delay claims and time related costs incurred on a large railway-signaling project in the Western Cape.
• Advising the owner of one of South Africa’s largest solar farms in the Northern Province on various aspects of its contractual relationship with the operator.
• Acting for a consortium of professional consultants in arbitration proceedings against a state-owned entity in relation to a claim for payment of professional fees for services performed on a railway-infrastructure-upgrade project.
• Acting for a contractor in arbitration dispute-resolution proceedings in respect of a contractual damages claim against a large copper mine based in Phalaborwa.

Non-Contentious Matters

• Advising on a joint venture between TotalEnergies and a South African energy company, Gigajoule, on construction contracts relating to the Matola LNG import project in Mozambique, comprising a permanently moored floating storage and regasification unit, a gas pipeline and related infrastructure.
• Assisting the energy-industry’s global partner on sustainable energy solutions to draft supply-and-installation agreements in relation to the development and operation of an 86 MW wind project to in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
• Advising Standard Bank of South Africa on the terms of EPC and Operations & Maintenance contracts for a solar power REIPPPP project.
• Assisting a global player in the renewable energy sector, particularly in respect of all aspects of operation and maintenance of renewable energy assets in relation to four photovoltaic power plants on solar farms in the Northern Cape.
• Assisting a multinational networking and telecommunications company to draft and finalise the Request for Proposals and Conditions of Contract for the appointment of a contractor to perform office interior fit-out.
• Advising the lenders on the provisions of Operation & Maintenance and EPC Contracts in respect of a national roadwork project in Kenya.
• Advising various clients during contract negotiation regarding the South African law and standard market practice.

• South Africa: My contractor is in liquidation…what now?
• South Africa: Security for construction projects when the usual avenues are closed
• Thomson Reuters: Contract Formation and Enforcement in South Africa: Overview
• South Africa: Possible changes in how courts approach interdict proceedings over construction performance guarantees
• Unfinished business: what to do when construction halts due to a contractor’s liquidation