Contract formation and the jurisdiction of an adjudicator

In High Tech Construction Ltd v WLP Trading and Marketing Ltd [2026] EWHC 152 (TCC) Constable J declined to enforce the decision of an adjudicator because the defendant had established a real prospect that the adjudicator had been appointed pursuant to a contract that did not exist. In doing so he engaged in an extensive review of the applicable case law where there is a dispute between the parties as to the formation of the contract under which one party has sought to refer the dispute to adjudication, from which he derived a number of principles. The critical factor in the present case was that there was no agreement between the parties as to the existence of what was termed "a foundational agreement" pursuant to which the adjudicator had been appointed and the adjudicator did not have jurisdiction to bind the parties temporarily to his decision on this "foundational question".