THE HOUSING GRANTS, CONSTRUCTION AND REGENERATION ACT 1996 – A REVIEW OF RECENT CASES

Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (hereafter “the 1996 Act”) has produced a significant amount of case law in recent months and a consistent pattern is now beginning to emerge from the judgments of the courts. The courts have in general sought to uphold the intention of Parliament in introducing a speedy mechanism for settling disputes in construction contracts on a provisional interim basis (this approach was first articulated in Macob Civil Engineering Ltd v Morrison Construction Ltd [1999] BLR 93, on which see our October 1999 issue pp 1-5). Where the adjudicator makes a mistake on a matter which properly lies within the scope of his jurisdiction then the courts will not intervene to set aside the decision. On the other hand, where the adjudicator purports to decide a matter which he has no jurisdiction to decide then the courts do have jurisdiction to intervene and are likely to exercise it in favour of setting aside the decision of the adjudicator (see The Project Consultancy Group v The Trustee of the Gray Trust [1999] BLR 377, on which see our December 1999 issue, pp 7-9).