17 Apr 2019PBS ENERGO AS v BESTER GENERACION UK LTD The contractor had a properly arguable defence that the adjudicator’s decision was obtained by the sub-contractor’s fraud with the result that its application to enforce the decision by way of summary judgment should be dismissed
16 Apr 2019Dispute ResolutionAdjudicator slips, errors and cock-ups! I have yet to meet an infallible human being. As all adjudicators are either male, female or gender-neutral human beings (there are no known aliens practising – despite rumours to the contrary) we are all prone to the human condition of making slips, errors and mistakes from time to time. Who was it who said “a man who never made mistakes never made anything” and “to err is human”?
13 Mar 2019EQUITIX ESI CHP (SHEFF) LTD v VEOLIA ENERGY & UTILITY SERVICES UK PLC The persons appointed by the adjudicator nominating body satisfied the requirement of being “in the field of biomass energy plants” when they had expertise derived from dispute resolution in that field despite none of them being an expert in such plants
8 Mar 2019HITACHI ZOSEN INOVA AG v JOHN SISK & SON LTD The adjudicator had jurisdiction to award the sub-contractor a specified in the further adjudicator in respect of a variation despite having valued it in the first adjudication as “£nil” on the ground of insufficient cost details where it provided such details in the further adjudication
8 Mar 2019BILLINGFORD HOLDINGS LTD v SMC BUILDING SOLUTIONS LTD No order should be made in respect of the responding party’s application for an injunction preventing the adjudicator and the referring party to continue the ongoing adjudication in order that declarations could be made resolving its challenge to the adjudicator’s jurisdiction
5 Mar 2019Building ConsultancyContractors and Concurrent Delay If you have read the judgement in North Midland Building Ltd v Cyden Homes Ltd [2017] EWHC 2414 (TCC) you will understand why I and many of my industry colleagues are a little worried about the impact this case will have on our industry.
1 Mar 2019Dispute ResolutionGrenfell Tower Fire The Law of Unintended Consequences - Professional Indemnity Insurance Claims and Rising Premiums
13 Feb 2019Dispute ResolutionInsolvent Claimants and Adjudication - A Court of Appeal Update On 24 January 2019 the Court of Appeal handed down an important judgement covering two appeals arising from judgements made in the Technology and Construction Court Division of the High Court (“TCC”).
5 Feb 2019DONALD INSALL ASSOCIATES LTD v KEW HOLDINGS LTD There was a contract for the provision of architectural services between the architect and the client company which was concluded at the meeting between a representative of the architect and the director of the client when the director signed the architect’s fee proposal on behalf of the client
29 Jan 2019OVE ARUP & PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL LTD v COLEMAN BENNETT INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANCY PLC The client was precluded from relying in the engineer’s enforcement proceedings on its jurisdictional challenge that the contract(s) with the engineer fell outside the ambit of the Construction Act despite its general reservation made before the adjudicator to raise new challenges
22 Jan 2019Dispute ResolutionFinancing UK construction – Earthquakes and tidal waves A small earthquake hit the British construction industry on New Year’s Eve. Nobody seems to have noticed but a tidal wave is about to hit the UK construction sector in 2019 (and beyond) as a result of this major event. What am I referring to?
