Arbitration is a process where, by agreement, the parties to a dispute have the matter settled by the decision of one or more independent persons. This agreement may be entered into after the dispute has arisen or it may be expressly provided for within a contract. Arbitration is a private procedure with only the parties to the arbitration agreement and their representatives attending any arbitration meeting or hearing. Arbitration has the force of law and generally the arbitrator's decision, called an Award, is final and binding and can be enforced in court.

It is normal for an arbitrator to be appointed for his specialist technical knowledge and experience of the matters in dispute e.g. a Lawyer, Engineer, Architect or Quantity Surveyor.

On the 31 January 1997 Parliament enacted the Arbitration Act 1996. The Arbitration Act is generally recognised as being a masterpiece of legislation being founded on three principles, namely, (i) the fair resolution of disputes by an impartial tribunal without unnecessary delay and expense (ii) the parties are free to agree how there disputes are resolved, subject only to such safeguards as are necessary in the public interest and (iii) the court should not intervene unless provided by the Act. To facilitate this objective the Act provides mandatory and non-mandatory provisions.



The Act is also written in such a way to attract parties across the world to bring their disputes for resolution by arbitration in England including provisions for the recognition and enforcement of certain foreign awards in court.

Since the advent of statutory adjudication, by way of Section 108 of Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, and the imposing timescale for the adjudicator to reach an interim and binding decision within 28 days of the referral, arbitrators are now striving to adopt some of those techniques learnt in adjudication to reduce both time and cost in an arbitration. Parties themselves have also realised, with the Arbitration Act 1996 providing party autonomy, that they also can influence the procedure to reduce time and cost. The aim is to improve the effectiveness of arbitration for commercial enterprises.

Nigel is a Chartered Arbitrator and is available to receive appointments to act as arbitrator or provide advice to parties contemplating or involved in the arbitration process.