Challenges To Adjudicators' Jurisdiction: Multiple Disputes Across Multiple Contracts

It is a well-established rule of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (the 'Act') that an adjudicator will only have jurisdiction to determine one dispute under a construction contract at any one time, unless their jurisdiction has been extended by consent of the parties.

What this means in practice is that where multiple disputes arising under multiple contracts are referred to adjudication in a single referral, an adjudicator could find themselves on the receiving end of a jurisdictional challenge.

In the recent case of Delta Fabrication & Glazing Limited ('Delta') v Watkin Jones & Son Limited ('Watkin Jones'), the Technology and Construction Court (TCC) required to address that exact scenario, and determine whether to enforce an adjudicator's award in circumstances where the dispute referred to adjudication arose under two separate contracts.