Kim Lovegrove

Adjunct Professor Kim Lovegrove MSE, RML

Kim Lovegrove MSE, RML is a senior construction lawyer at Lovegrove & Cotton Lawyers, and for three years in a row was recently ranked as one of the top construction lawyers in Australia in Doyles Guide. He is regarded as an authority in Victoria and New South Wales on building regulations, as he was retained by the Victorian Government to perform a principal role in the development of the Building Act 1993. He also headed up the team that developed the National Model Building Act that became a law reform template in a number of Australian jurisdictions in the nineties.

Kim is also a regular Senior International Consultant to the World Bank in which capacity he assists the Bank with the provision of international best practice law reform advice on building regulations. He has been deployed in law reform advisory capacities in Mumbai, Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo.

Kim Lovegrove MSE, RML, is the Chairman of the International Building Quality Centre (IBQC) at Canberra University.

Honours

Kim Lovegrove MSE, RML:-

• On the 24th of June, 2017, was awarded the RML – Royal Medal of the Lion by Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie (President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia and grandson of the late Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie). The Lion symbolises the Lion of Judah, which was also one of the titles of the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. This award was in recognition of Kim’s humanitarian endeavours in Ethiopia, where he and the firm sponsored the Lawyer position at the Hope for Children Organisation.
• Was subsequently awarded the MSE Order of the Star of Ethiopia by the Secretary of the Crown Council in 2019. The title Chevalier is an Order of Knighthood of the Ethiopian Empire and was ordained in recognition of service to the country as an Honorary Consul, a position in which he served until the end of 2020.

Kim is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra Faculty of Design and Arts, and is a past Conjoint Professor of Building Regulation and Certification at the University of Newcastle (New South Wales).

Kim is a past Chairman of the Building Practitioners Board Victoria, a past President for the Northern Chapter of the New Zealand Institute of Building, and a past President of the Australian Institute of Building (Victorian Chapter).

He was also the Honorary Consul for Ethiopia in Victoria from 2018 to 2020.

Kim Lovegrove:-

• Has authored or co-authored some 15 books on construction law.
• Was the principal legal adviser to the New South Wales government on the Part 4 reforms to the Environmental Planning Act.
• Is a past Deputy Executive Director of the Australian Building Codes Board.
• Is a past Assistant Director of the Division of Building Control Victoria.
• Was principal legal adviser to the Victorian Government on the development and implementation of the Building Act Victoria 1993 and Assessment Act (late nineties).
• Is a past legal columnist for The Australian, Herald Sun, The Age and is a current writer for Construction Industry Online Magazine, Sourceable. There have been 1.5 Million reads of his articles in this publication.
• Is a Chartered Building Professional.

Law Reform Retainers

Kim Lovegrove is an expert on law reform and microeconomic reform having been retained by a number of governments locally and abroad to advise and assist with the establishment and implementation of far reaching law reform initiatives including but not limited to:

• Establishment of holistic building control regimes
• Mandatory licencing and practitioner registration regimes
• Establishment of proportionate liability regimes
• Fast track and cost effective dispute resolution regimes

Kim Lovegrove is a leading international authority on best practice building control and micro-economic reforms in the ‘as built’ sector. Kim has been retained by the following jurisdictions, and NGOs in a law reform advisory capacity:-

• Australian Uniform Regulatory Coordinating Council (the previous incarnation of the ABCB) to head up the team that developed the National Model Building Act (early 90s);
• The Victorian Government as policy advisor and instructing officer to parliamentary counsel to assist with the development of the Building Act 1993;
• The New South Wales Government to advise on the development of reforms to the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (late 90s);
• As the representative of the Australian Federal Government in the participation of a Japanese law reform think-tank to advice on the further development of their building regulations (late 90s);
• The Japanese Government by way of retainer to participate in a building regulatory law reform think-tank with one other American international expert (2013);
• The World Bank to advise the Mumbai Municipal Government on law reform recommendations with regards to their proposed building regulatory changes, and subsequently, the New Delhi Government on proposed changes to insurance law (2017); and
• The World Bank to assist World Bank experts with the development of some law reform recommendations for the Shanghai and Beijing governments (2019).