Legal Developments In Construction Law: November 2015

Keywords: employer's challenges, adjudicator's award, penalty clauses

1. Court Demolishes Employer's Challenges to Adjudicator's Award

Seventeen years after the Construction Act went live, the ground rules of adjudication are still being tested. In Wycombe v. Topevent the employer challenged enforcement of an adjudicator's decision, claiming that there was more than one dispute and that there were breaches of natural justice, because the adjudicator did not have a site visit or meeting and did not decide the dispute on the basis of the parties' submissions. In dismissing the challenges, Mr. Justice Coulson restated some key principles of adjudication.

He decided that a demolition contractor's claim for the costs of an allegedly wrongful termination and its overall claim for all outstanding sums were not separate disputes. There was a clear and obvious link between them. Even if they were separate disputes, under the applicable TecSA rules the parties could