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In Place of Strife

The Mediation Chambers

Construction and Engineering

Building contracts are fruitful ground for disputes, whether between employers and contractors and professional advisers, or between contractors and sub-contractors.  Traditionally litigation and arbitration have been the principal routes to resolution.  The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act, 1996, added Adjudication to this list, a quick and effective means of obtaining a preliminary ruling.  However, increasingly mediation has played an important role, allowing parties a structured forum for commercial negotiation in which the parties remain in control.  Often the mediation takes place as part of the Pre-Action Protocol for Construction and Engineering Disputes which the parties engage in prior to court or arbitral proceedings.

Given the damaging nature of building disputes, especially where the relationship between team members is vital to the success of a project, mediation has forged an important role as the means to speedy resolution at reasonable cost.  It is often used to settle:

  • time and delay claims
  • liquidated and ascertained damages (LADs)
  • payment and defects disputes
  • contractual differences and breaches
  • sub-contractor, consultant and supply chain issues
  • project management issues
  • design failures

Where an employer believes it has suffered loss, the whole construction and professional team can be drawn into a dispute where more than one party stands to be blamed for that loss.  Mediation is especially effective in resolving matters involving many parties who would find it almost impossible to negotiate without a neutral intermediary.

Our mediators have helped parties resolve disputes involving domestic building contracts right up to massive infrastructure projects in the fields of transport, housing, renewable energy, oil and gas and electricity generation in both the private and public sector, sometimes involving PFIs and PPPs.

For advice on the In Place of Strife mediators with the right experience for your case, please contact our senior case manager, Joanne Claypole.