Jane Fender-Allison, Associate in our Construction &
Engineering team, summarises the adjudication lessons to be learnt
from 2013.
2013 saw a raft of adjudications come before the courts.
Adjudication remains a powerful tool, offering a potentially quick
and effective outcome to a dispute. But cases show there are a
number of adjudication lessons to be learned from the courts in
2013 and key questions to ask when considering adjudication.
1 Are you sure that you have a "construction
contract"?
The first question is, as always, do you have a construction
contract under section 104 of the Housing Grants, Construction
& Regeneration Act 1996? It seems a straightforward question,
but has given rise to many a jurisdictional challenge. This year
the courts confirmed for the first time that a collateral warranty
could be a construction contract (Parkwood Leisure Ltd v Laing
O'Rourke Wales & West Ltd). In that case a warranty
included wording that a contractor
