This year contains a number of historic anniversaries, ranging from the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, to the 75th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Kursk and many others, including, in the UK, the 150th birthday of the specialist construction court in England and Wales, now called the Technology and Construction Court. Closer to home it is the 40th birthday of the International Construction Law Review, which was set up almost exactly 40 years ago, in October 1983. This fourth and final part of 2023 recognises these industry anniversaries with specific contributions, and also includes a number of articles from around the globe addressing a variety of topics which reflect the breadth of construction disputes, ranging from unjust enrichment claims to reviewing collaboration in construction disputes based on the experience in Singapore, and from bulk expert referrals in construction disputes in Queensland to extension of time provisions and notice requirements in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts.

We begin this final part with a contribution which marks the birthday of the International Construction Law Review. In “Forty Years On: The International Construction Law Review” Julian Bailey and Dr Matthew Bell travel back in time to reflect on the origins of the International Construction Law Review in the 1980s. This was an age which saw an exceptional growth in the development of construction law, reflected in the foundation of the Centre of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution at King’s College, London in 1987 and other industry institutions (such as the Society of Construction Law) and publications (for example, the Building Law Reports in 1976, the Construction Industry Law Letter in 1983, the Construction Law Journal in 1984 and the Construction Law Reports and Building and Construction Law in 1985). The founding editors of the International Construction Law Review, Humphrey LLoyd QC (as he then was) and David Wightman, were focused on creating an international publication. The aim was to be a clearing house for views and opinions, or, as Bailey and Bell describe it, to take each one of us out of our provincial box. The article next assesses the legacy of the International Construction Law Review over its four decades in terms of “People and places”, “Issues”, Scholarship” and “Institutions”, before gazing into the future and concluding with inspiration from Dave and the Dynamos, who had a number-one song in New Zealand in 1983, “Life Begins at Forty”, including the suitably upbeat words “you may be forty but you can’t stop rocking to the beat!”.

Next, Franco Mastrandrea in “The Quantification of Unjust Enrichment Claims in Construction” analyses the approach (or approaches) to valuing unjust enrichment claims, as in restitutionary claims for quantum meruit, and not claims that have basis or foundation in contract. Such claims for restitutionary relief often arise in the context of potential contracts which have not materialised, with parties seeking monetary relief. Typical examples include a claim for recovery of tendering costs or where, for