No Second Bite At Arbitration: The Force Of Public-Sector JBCC Substitutions

Construction adjudication is often treated as interim, with arbitration or litigation waiting as the final forum. In a judgement delivered by the Eastern Cape Division, Makhanda on 30 April 2026, Krüger AJ warned that this assumption is only as good as the contract: adjudication is as provisional, revisable, or arbitral as the agreement provides. Where public-sector substitutions alter a standard form, the court will enforce the text signed rather than reconstruct dispute-resolution machinery that has been deleted.  

Facts of the Case

The dispute arose from a public-sector construction contract for work at the Uitenhage Museum. NLG Construction and Plant Hire CC and the Eastern Cape Department of Public Works concluded the Principal Building Agreement on 29 April 2021, after a tender process, at a contract value of R16,591,731.85. The parties used the JBCC 2000 Principal Building Agreement, edition 4.1 of 2005, which substitutes certain clauses where a party is an organ of state.