After working in private law firms in Oman and Abu Dhabi from 2008 to 2012, from 2012 to 2021 Professor Hibbert was the General Counsel and Head of Legal Services for the newly established Qatar Railways Company in Doha, Qatar. In that capacity, he established and ran the Legal Department and was directly responsible for drafting; negotiation; award and overall supervision (compliance and governance) of all project contracts in the delivery of one of the largest metro rail projects in the world. 

The Doha Metro had a value exceeding $USD 30 billion comprising 140km of tunnels and track feeding 31 underground and 6 above-ground stations.

From an initial staff level of 30 plus in the company, project personnel, including labour, grew to more than 84,000 in 2018

First contracts were awarded in mid-2013 and the project was bought into full operation by end 2019 – exceeding all world’s best practice benchmarks. In the first year of operations, daily passenger numbers on busy days and weekends often exceeded 100,000 people.

Took the project from commencement (2012) to completion and into full operations (2019).

Project features included:

• 21 tunnel boring machines operating at the same time
• Deep, complex civil engineering excavations
• World-class architectural designs and finishes
• Mutli-level underground stations

Professor Hibbert was directly involved in the assessment and resolution of contractor and consultant claims, including the analysis of critical path programmes and project costings. The Legal Dept. was also responsible for the insurance function for the project – during both construction and into operations – delivered via Owner Controlled Insurance Programmes, underwritten in the world markets. The insurance function also brought with it a direct role for the Legal Dept. in the assembly and management of the project risk-register.