The Prime Cost Principle's To Be Or Not To Be?

After an arbitration procedure that lasted for almost seven years, a final award was made in the summer in the case between the construction giant Peab and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield regarding the Mall of Scandinavia contract. The award raises a number of questions and in this article, which is the first in a series of articles that will address different parts of the arbitration judgement, we deal with the contractor's demands for compensation for ÄTA (alterations and additions) works. The dispute is of interest as the arbitration panel has had to examine in part how ÄTA works are priced, in part which standard of proof shall apply. In the case it was undisputed that ordering of ÄTA works had taken place according to an order form with specification of the alternative "agreement on fixed price based on detailed calculation". However, the parties had not succeeded in agreeing on a fixed price for the disputed ÄTA works and the issue that arose was then the principle