Time limits and extension of time

Contractual provisions for the service of notice of arbitration proceedings typically lay down time limits. Section 12 of the Arbitration Act 1996 permits the court to extend time if specific conditions are satisfied. In Anglian Water Services Ltd v Laing O’Rourke Utilities Ltd [2010] EWHC 1529 (TCC) the issue arose in the context of adjudication, where the dispute resolution provisions agreed to by the parties required arbitration to be commenced within 28 days of the adjudication. The case also raised the question of whether the clause was valid under the Adjudication provisions in the statutory Scheme for Construction Contracts.

Anglian Water: the facts

The claimant, AWS, engaged LOR to design and construct tanks at AWS’s sewage treatment works in Saltfleet. The contract did not require either party to refer a dispute to adjudication at any time, which rendered the contract non-compliant with the Housing, Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996: as a consequence, the adjudication rules in the Scheme for Construction Contracts became the default provisions on adjudication. The contract did provide, in cl 93.1, for arbitration, but rendered adjudication a precondition to a reference to arbitration and allowed a party dissatisfied with the adjudication award (or the absence of an award) within four weeks of notification of the award or the termination of the period allowed for an award to serve a notice on the other stating its intention to commence arbitration.