What Happens To Interim Payments When Projects Overrun?

Balfour Beatty Regional Construction Ltd v Grove Developments Ltd

This case considered the effect of a contract which included an agreed schedule of payment dates. The project overran by more than a year but the schedule ended at the original contractual completion date. This raised the question of what the contractual position was in respect of interim payments after the dates in the schedule had run out.

Balfour Beatty (the "Contractor") brought an adjudication claiming £23 million in respect of a payment application which post-dated the last date in the schedule. In response, the Employer commenced proceedings seeking declarations from the Court that there was no further right to interim payments beyond the last date in the schedule.  The result was that the Contractor was required to wait until the final account for any further payment.