Spain

In Spain, alliancing is not widely used as form of contracting but depending on the project or the agreement reached between the intervening parties, a project may be developed through the implementation of a joint venture agreement. This can be used in certain development projects where the parties intent to optimise the resources available in the form of an equity or contract joint venture. It allows the contracting parties to act in a certain way in order to achieve a common goal without establishing an independent new legal entity.

The key drivers are seen as being the allocation of costs, optimisation of resources and internationalisation of a project.

The key factors present include the participation within the project of each of the members of the joint venture proportionally to each share, the right of the participants to jointly control the common business and the joint operation of the business.

Joint venturing is commonly used in international transactions or projects that involve multiple jurisdictions that may involve the participants in extra costs if they participate individually within the same. The key requirements in this type of agreement will be to determine the participation and method of control of the entity by each of its members together with the allocation of costs, liabilities and rights.

The arrangements are usually formalised through a joint venture agreement between the parties. There are no initial blocks to these types of structures under the applicable laws.

The parties should select the law of the agreement. Regarding dispute resolution, the most efficient way tends to be to apply deadlock clauses which would entitle any of the parties to assume the entire project in case of breach by the other party or submit the disputes to an arbitration court.

It is thought that in future, these arrangements will become more common due to the increased specialisation of construction companies meaning that several different contractors are required to cover a project.