TIME LIMITS, CONTRACTS AND ADJUDICATION

Cubitt Building & Interiors Ltd v Fleetgrade Ltd [2006] EWHC 3413 (TCC), 21 December 2006

In Cubitt Building & Interiors Ltd v Fleetgrade Ltd [2006] EWHC 3413 (TCC), 21 December 2006, Judge Coulson held that, in the case where the contractual adjudication provisions comply with the terms of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (hereafter ‘the 1996 Act’), it is the terms of the contract, and not the terms of the Act, which should be at the forefront of the court’s consideration of the parties’ respective rights and liabilities. While Judge Coulson emphasised the importance of compliance with the contractual timetable, his adoption of a ‘sensible and commercial’ construction of the requirements of the timetable enabled him to enforce the decision of an adjudicator, notwith-standing the fact that it actually reached the parties some 12 hours after the expiry of the time available to the adjudicator for him to reach his decision.