Patrick Heneghan and Nick Kaplan feature in the latest editions of Construction Law

16th May 2024

3PB's commercial litigation, adjudication and arbitration barrister Patrick HeneghanPatrick HeneghanCall: 1997 (pictured left) asks whether Parliament intended adjudication to used in large or complex construction disputes. The recent decision of Home Group Limited v MPS Housing Limited [2023] EWHC 1946 (TCC) would appear to affirm the received wisdom that the size and/or complexity of a dispute in and of itself is no bar to its adjudication. The success of a challenge related to size and complexity in the future will likely depend on providing convincing evidence that the breach caused a material difference to the outcome of the adjudication. The door seems ajar for size and complexity alone to combine to render a dispute unsuitable for adjudication where an adjudicator concludes that she/he is unable to consider the issues so as to do broad justice between the parties.

3PB's construction and engineering disputes barrister Nick KaplanNick KaplanCall: 2013's (pictured right) article "Spiking the guns of trigger-happy contractors" analyses a Technology and Construction Court (TCC) decision about whether a contractor had validly exercised a right to terminate under a JCT contract. The case of Providence Building Services Limited v Hexagon Housing Association Limited EWHC 2965 considered the meaning of the termination provisions in the most widely used form of construction contract in the UK. Specifically, termination of a JCT D&B 2016 contract for repetition of an employer default; here for late payment of the contractor’s interim applications. The TCC held that the contractor had not validly exercised the right to terminate for repetition of a default under clause 8.9.4 of the contract because it had no pre-existing right to terminate for continuation of the default under the clause. The Court of Appeal recently gave the contractor (Providence) permission to appeal, which will be heard in July this year.

To read Patrick's article on adjudication, please click here. To read Nick's article on termination rights under a JCT contract, please click here.

To contact Patrick, please contact either of his clerks, David Fielder on [email protected] or Joe Townsend on [email protected], or by calling either of them on 020 7583 8055.

To contact Nick, please contact either of his clerks,  Steve Evers on [email protected] or Joe Townsend on [email protected] or by calling them on 020 7583 8055.