Adjudication – Fit For Purpose – Or Is There Another Way?

It has been nearly 20 years since the world was introduced to statutory adjudication through the pithily titled Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 and save for minor tinkering around the edges it has not changed. In this article, we look at whether adjudication is still fit for purpose and the alternatives to adjudication, are they better suited to resolving construction disputes. In particular we give a brief overview of the 100 day arbitration procedure, dispute boards, and the ICC expedited procedure which is aimed at claims below $2 million and where the award is delivered within 6 months.

Before we do the key positives and negatives of adjudication. It is quick (normally 28 days from Referral to decision and almost always completed within 2 months), decisions are interimly binding and therefore can be overturned by the court or by an arbitrator, is fairly cheap (depending on the adjudicator and the complexity of the issues) and the costs of