Monthly Archives: October 2016

REUTERS | Dominic Ebenbichler
October 11, 2016

Contractual issue under PFI contract adjudicated then “appealed” to TCC

It’s funny how things go. It was only a few weeks ago that I wrote about the dispute resolution procedure that CEDR publishes designed for “PFI and long-term contracts”. Now, we have a court judgment looking at an adjudicator’s decision arising out of a PFI contract for the roads and streets lighting network in Birmingham. Given HHJ Mark Raeside QC’s judgment in Amey Birmingham Highways Ltd v Birmingham City Council prints to over 100 pages, I wonder how many of you are familiar with it? Continue reading →

REUTERS | Ilya Naymushin
October 7, 2016

Going nuclear: Britain’s big bet on Hinkley Point

On 29 September 2016, at a private low-key ceremony in London, representatives from three of the world’s most powerful nations (France, China and the UK) met in order to sign a historic energy agreement. The goal: to build Britain’s first nuclear power plant in a generation. When completed in 2025 (if all goes to plan), Hinkley Point C will join two existing Somerset plants (Hinkley Points A and B) with a view to single-handedly supplying 7% of the UK’s energy needs. By that time, almost all of the eight currently-operating nuclear power stations (which together supply 20% of present-day demand) will be either closed or slated for decommissioning. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Robert Galbraith
October 5, 2016

The latest word on serial adjudication

In a decision handed down earlier this week, Fraser J has held that Herefordshire District Council (HDC) is entitled to have Mr Matt Molloy’s adjudication decision, in the sum of £10 million, enforced. The judge did not accept the contractor, Amey Wye Valley Ltd’s, submissions that Mr Molloy’s decision was inconsistent with Mr Mark Entwistle’s earlier adjudication decision. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Dani Cardona
October 5, 2016

Professional negligence claims: a change of direction?

In O’Hare and another v Coutts & Co, the High Court moved away from the “Bolam” test for professional negligence claims (by reference to what a responsible body of professionals would do), at least in respect of financial advisers alerting their clients to investment risks. Does this suggest a change is coming in assessing negligence claims against construction professionals? I don’t think so, but I wonder if recent TCC decisions should cause us to reflect more on the use and quality of expert evidence. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Charles Platiau
October 4, 2016

“Adjudication is not the Wild West of dispute resolution”

For the keen-eyed among you, you will recognise where I have borrowed this week’s title from. For those who are none the wiser, it comes from Fraser J’s judgment in Beumer Group UK Ltd v Vinci Construction UK Ltd  (at paragraph 22). He wasn’t referring to the “wicky wicky wild wild wild west” immortalised by Will Smith, but rather to adjudication being a “formal dispute resolution forum with certain basic requirements of fairness”. Those basic requirements of fairness arise from the rules of natural justice and were central to the court’s judgment.

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