Lovegrove Group is a policy and legislative reform advisory consultancy, founded by the team behind two of the only fully developed model building Acts ever produced — Australia's National Model Building Act and the International Model Building Act.
Building failures are rarely just technical failures. Most trace back to gaps in the law standing behind the code — unclear chains of responsibility, weak liability settings, or licensing and inspection regimes that were never designed as a coherent system. Lovegrove Group is a dedicated consultancy for that specific problem, built on the individual track record its founders developed over three decades at Lovegrove & Cotton, the IBQC, and in direct engagements with governments and the World Bank.
The legal practice — representing individual parties in construction disputes, litigation, and regulatory compliance matters.
The international building regulatory thought leader — publishing good practice guidelines and model legislation for the benefit of the sector as a whole. Lovegrove & Cotton is a formal supporter of the IBQC. Kim Lovegrove's role as Chair of the IBQC is a separate, unpaid, not-for-profit role.
The advisory consultancy — not a law firm — engaged directly by governments and institutions, on a commercial basis, to design, review, or draft the regulatory and legislative frameworks themselves, on a bespoke, jurisdiction-specific basis.
Lovegrove Group advises governments, multilateral institutions, and regulatory bodies on the design, reform, and drafting of building law and regulatory systems.
Development and design of holistic building control systems — how licensing, inspection, classification, and enforcement function together as one coherent whole, not a patchwork of separate rules.
Independent assessment of existing building laws against international best practice, examining statutory chains of responsibility, liability, and risk-based classification.
Advising governments in the aftermath of building failures or disasters, rebuilding not only physical structures but the regulatory systems behind them.
Drafting building Acts and model legislation for governments and institutions — full legislative frameworks covering classification, licensing, liability, insurance, and enforcement.
Design and implementation of best-practice, cost-effective, and efficient dispute resolution systems — from tribunal architecture through to mediation and conciliation frameworks.
A typical government or institutional engagement follows four stages.
We review the existing legislative and regulatory framework against international good practice, identifying where gaps in the law — not just the code — sit.
We prepare drafting instructions and policy architecture — the same approach used for the National and International Model Building Acts — setting out the structure before any legislative text is written.
We settle policy instruments and can prepare drafting instructions, or draft legislation directly with the cooperation of local parliamentary counsel, testing the approach against industry and institutional stakeholders as with the NZ MBIE roundtable.
We remain available through passage and early implementation, drawing on the wider resources of Lovegrove & Cotton and the IBQC where needed.
This record spans work delivered by Kim Lovegrove personally, and — where noted — by Lovegrove & Cotton and Tsigereda Lovegrove, now brought together within Lovegrove Group's advisory offering. A number of these deployments were undertaken as World Bank engagements.
Kim Lovegrove was instructing officer to Victorian Parliamentary Counsel on the Building Act 1993, while serving as Assistant Director of Building Control, and was project director of the National Model Building Act. He was also legal consultant to the NSW Government on the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act.
Lovegrove & Cotton was part of the law reform advisory team engaged by MBIE on proportionate liability reforms to the Building Act 2004 — described by the Minister for Building and Construction as the biggest building consent system reform in decades. Kim chaired the national industry roundtable; he and Tsigereda Lovegrove then engaged directly with the MBIE delegation on liability settings and dispute resolution design respectively. These reforms, along with mandatory professional indemnity insurance for design professionals, received Cabinet sanction in August and November 2025, and are now before the New Zealand Parliament as the Building Amendment Bill.
2018–2022: Kim Lovegrove was retained by the World Bank as senior law reform adviser, advising Shanghai, Beijing, Changzhou, Chongqing, and Guangzhou on building control regulation design, and was recognised with a World Bank team award.
Kim Lovegrove, retained by the World Bank, advised on building regulatory recommendations for Mumbai, and advised the New Delhi Government on related insurance law reform.
One of our senior people was retained by the World Bank's Disaster and Resilience division to review Malawi's first-ever building regulations.
Kim Lovegrove was first engaged in Japan as a representative of the Australian Federal Government and Deputy Executive Director of the Australian Building Codes Board; he was engaged a second time, in his own personal capacity, in law reform think tanks in Tokyo on reform of Japan's Building Standard Law.
Kim Lovegrove was the architect behind the International Model Building Act — preparing the drafting instructions and policy architecture underpinning the first fully developed international model statute for building regulation. Other members of the Lovegrove Group team provided the secretariat for its development.
A worked illustration of the drafting instructions and policy architecture Kim Lovegrove prepared for the Act — the legislative text itself was then drafted by Gemma Varley, former Victorian Chief Parliamentary Counsel.
The Act replaces joint and several liability with a proportionate model: each defendant's exposure is capped to the court's assessment of their own share of responsibility for the loss, rather than any one party bearing the full claim. "Concurrent wrongdoer" and "apportionable claim" are defined terms, so the regime applies consistently regardless of whether the underlying claim sounds in contract, tort, or otherwise.
Courts may join other concurrent wrongdoers into the same proceeding, and a defendant who fails to disclose a known concurrent wrongdoer can be made to bear the plaintiff's resulting costs — designed to stop responsibility being quietly left off the table.
Proportionate liability is paired with a mandatory insurance power, so that a defendant's liability being capped to their own share doesn't leave an under-insured gap for the owner to fall into.
Independent recognition from the judiciary, government, academia, and industry.
"I wish to acknowledge the instrumental role of Professor Kim Lovegrove" in chairing the IBQC coalition that produced the Good Practice Guidelines for construction dispute resolution in emerging economies.Source: Lovegrove & Cotton publication, February 2025
"Her exceptional communication and leadership skills were evident in these interactions" — on Tsigereda Lovegrove's facilitation of the IBQC Dispute Resolution Working Coalition.Source: "Tsigereda Lovegrove: A Journey," Lovegrove & Cotton, published on LinkedIn, 29 August 2024
On Tsigereda Lovegrove: "a remarkable force of intelligence, integrity, and professionalism."Source: "Tsigereda Lovegrove: A Journey," Lovegrove & Cotton, published on LinkedIn, 29 August 2024
The International Model Building Act "could well prove to be the most significant instrument the IBQC has produced" to date.Source: Southern Cross University news release, February 2026
On the firm's principals: "recently been engaged to advise the New Zealand Government on major liability reforms" to the Building Act.Source: Lovegrove & Cotton client testimonials page (undated)
On Lovegrove & Cotton: "creating a seamless connection between much needed building industry regulatory policy reform" and its practical solutions.Source: Lovegrove & Cotton client testimonials page (undated)
On Kim Lovegrove's contribution: "your work in law reform for construction and proportional liability has been outstanding."Source: LinkedIn comment (undated)
Commenting on the Building Amendment Bill 2026, the current Minister thanked Kim Lovegrove for his "outstanding advice on these matters."Source: LinkedIn comment, 2026 (exact date undated)
On Kim, Tsigereda and Justin: "professional, knowledgeable and always a pleasure to work with."Source: Lovegrove & Cotton client testimonials page (undated)
Kim Lovegrove "was a key advisor on the development of the Building Act 1993" and helped shape modern Victorian building regulation.Source: Lovegrove & Cotton client testimonials page (undated)
Lovegrove & Cotton is "the number 1 construction law firm in this jurisdiction," renowned in Australia and internationally.Source: Lovegrove & Cotton client testimonials page (undated)
On Kim Lovegrove: "a man of immense integrity and courage, unafraid to give frank and honest advice" — and on his IBQC leadership, driving lasting, global reform in building regulation.Source: Lovegrove & Cotton client testimonials page (undated)
A briefing distilling three decades of law reform experience into the questions that determine whether a reform succeeds or fails.
Is the problem in the code, or in the law that sits above it?
Who carries the risk when something goes wrong, and is that allocation deliberate?
Is there a single, traceable chain of responsibility from design to occupation?
Does the licensing regime match the risk profile of the work being regulated?
Is inspection and certification genuinely independent?
Plus five further questions on dispute resolution, insurance, enforcement, international good practice, and implementation planning.
Classification, licensing, inspection, liability, and dispute resolution in a single statutory framework.
On New Zealand's 2025 shift to proportionate liability under the Building Act 2004.
A two-part interview with John Gray, tracing four decades in cross-jurisdictional building law and regulatory reform.
Kim Lovegrove in conversation with Alejandro Espinosa-Wang (World Bank) and Neil Savery (ICC Oceania) on building regulatory reform in emerging economies.
Judy Zakreski hosts Kim Lovegrove and Professor Alfred Omenya on the IBQC's Good Practice Guidelines for the Development of Building Regulations in Low Income Countries.
Kim Lovegrove's contributions across almost four decades — a synopsis by Tsigereda Lovegrove.
Speaking alongside Dame Judith Hackitt and a World Bank regulatory specialist on building safety regulation reform.
Lovegrove Group's advisory work is led by specialists with direct, hands-on experience at the highest levels of building law reform — supported by the wider resources and personnel of Lovegrove & Cotton Construction & Planning Lawyers.
Founder of Lovegrove & Cotton (1993); architect of the International Model Building Act; Chair, IBQC.
Preeminent construction lawyer with 22+ years' experience; chairs a peak industry contracts and industrial relations committee.
Practice Manager, Lovegrove & Cotton; co-author of three IBQC Good Practice Guidelines.
Lovegrove Group welcomes enquiries from governments, multilateral institutions, and regulatory bodies seeking advice on building law and regulatory reform.
To help us direct your enquiry appropriately, please include:
Ten Questions Every Government Should Ask Before Reforming a Building Act — available on request for government and institutional readers.