If you are a party to a construction contract and are in dispute, there are various options that may be available to you to resolve the dispute.
One way to resolve it would be to refer it for construction adjudication. Your contract should include relevant adjudication provisions of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. If it does not, all of the adjudication provisions in Part I of the Scheme for Construction Contracts 1998 are implied instead.
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Once the dispute has crystallised, a party has the right to refer a dispute to adjudication "at any time". The procedure is streamlined and in essence will include the referring party serving a referral notice, the responding party serving a response to the referral notice and subject to the approval of the adjudicator, the referring party may serve a reply to the response.
The adjudicator must reach a decision within 28 days of the referral (although the parties may agree to a longer period after referral of the dispute).
The advantages of adjudication include: (i) costs associated with adjudication are generally lower and in certain instances, significantly lower, than formal court proceedings; (ii) it is a very fast procedure, which enables disputes to be resolved quickly and generally within 28 days. The disadvantages of adjudication include: (i) since it is a fast process, the parties have little time to prepare which could be a disadvantage; (ii) decisions are based on evidence, which might not be comprehensive.
