The issue used to be whether the adjudicator had jurisdiction to award interest under the Scheme for Construction Contracts. There were conflicting interpretations as to whether an adjudicator had a statutory standalone power to award interest (like a judge or arbitrator) or whether he could only award interest if a right existed. Continue reading
Everyone who is familiar with the Construction Act 1996 knows (or should know by now), that certain contracts are excluded from its payment and adjudication provisions. This includes the top tier contract between the local authority (usually) and the project company in PPP/PFI deals. Continue reading
“Timber!”
However loud or often I say it, will anyone really listen to the warning?
Site can be a dangerous place. Much of what goes on in or around a construction site is, or at least has the potential to be, dangerous. There is a lot of heavy, powerful equipment being moved around, used and stored. While some of the parties who interact on site will have a contract with each other, in fact, many of them don’t. Continue reading
The Government is abandoning its plan to build three “titan” prisons, each of which would have housed 2,500 inmates.
The decision, announced by Justice Minister Jack Straw, is a blow to the construction industry as the prisons were expected to cost around £1.2 billion, much of which would have been spent on construction. Instead, the Government now plans to build five smaller prisons, each housing 1,500 inmates. Only two of these prisons will go ahead immediately. Continue reading
If the Scheme for Construction Contracts governs an adjudication, the adjudicator is given certain powers, including the power to take the initiative in ascertaining the facts and the law necessary to determine the dispute. Continue reading
Since the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill 2008 (the Bill) was published last year, a number of amendments to its construction provisions have been proposed (see blog post). At the end of the committee stage in the House of Lords, the Government made it clear that it would not support any of the proposed amendments. In response, all of the amendments were withdrawn or not formally proposed (see blog post). Continue reading
In HS Works v Enterprise, the court enforced an adjudicator’s decision that decided, among other things, that the absence of a valid withholding notice was fatal to the contractor’s attempt to withhold monies from the sub-contractor’s final account. Continue reading
Crossrail is clearly important news for London. It will be Europe’s largest construction project and its effects will be widespread: Continue reading
The Government has announced the locations nominated as the sites for the next generation of nuclear power stations in England and Wales Continue reading
My blog on what to do if a party seeks to rely on an earlier adjudicator’s decision on an unrelated project reminded me of another relatively common issue: what should an adjudicator do when one party includes without prejudice material in its submissions and the other party objects? Continue reading
