Adjudication is a contractual process for the resolution of a dispute by way of a procedure written into a contract or a right provided by statute.

On the 1 May 1998, Parliament enacted for England, Wales and Scotland and in Northern Ireland on the 1 June 1999, Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. The Act is sometimes called the "Construction Act". Essentially, the Construction Act deals with two major problems in the industry namely, (i) payment and (ii) the resolution of disputes.

Generally, construction contracts, save for a few exceptions, now provide a statutory right to refer a dispute under the contract to adjudication.



Section 108 subsections (1) to (6) of the Act provides a right to a party to refer a dispute arising under the contract for adjudication at any time under a procedure complying with those sections. The subsections include (i) requiring the adjudicator to reach a decision within 28 days of the referral (the Referring Party's case) or such longer period as is agreed by the parties after the dispute has been referred (ii) the contract shall provide that the decision of the adjudicator is binding until the dispute is finally determined by legal proceedings, by arbitration (if the contract provides for arbitration or the parties otherwise agree arbitration) or by agreement and (iii) if the contract does not comply with the requirements of subsections (1) to (4) the adjudication provisions of the Scheme for Construction Contracts apply.

The appropriate Scheme for Construction Contracts provides a set of comprehensive default rules for both payment and adjudication being imported into the contract as implied terms.

The construction industry has welcomed this innovative statutory dispute resolution process. It has brought to commercial enterprises a relatively quick and inexpensive way of obtaining an interim but binding decision in a court of law.

The success of adjudication has partly been brought about by the court's policy to generally enforce adjudicators' decisions save for limited reasons. Adjudication in the UK has become so successful that other parts of the world have adopted a similar process. In Australia the state of New South Wales has introduced the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 and New Zealand enacted the Construction Contracts Act 2002.



Statutory adjudication in the UK has evolved into a complex procedure, moulded by the common law in the form of judgments of the Court including the Court of Appeal and House of Lords. Adjudication Law continues to evolve.

Nigel is a Panel Registered Adjudicator with The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Association of Independent Construction Adjudicators (2006 Panel), CEDR Solve (2008 Panel), Construction Industry Council and the Construction Plant Hire Association and is available to receive party appointments to act as adjudicator or to provide advice to parties contemplating or involved in adjudication.