Martin Burns

Adjudication is a splendid method for resolving construction disputes.

COVID-19 has changed everything. The world we were living in just a few months ago has melted away and, indeed, much of it may be gone forever. The impact on our economy has been immense and no more so that in the construction industry. From the start many sites shut down, employees have been absent or laid off. Cash flow, a perennial problem, has become a deepening crisis. The signs are that things are unlikely to improve soon. COVID will be with us for months, even years, ahead. 

When I first got involved in adjudication, way back in 1998, I was aware of at least 20 organisations that claimed to perform the role of Adjudicator Nominating Body (ANB). Some of those ANBs have fallen by the wayside and no longer offer nomination services. Today, most parties seeking independent nominations of adjudicators apply to only a handful of ANBs.

Martin Burns, Manager of the RICS Dispute Resolution Service kindly gave the Editor an update on the RICS strategy on adjudication:

“The numbers of appointments do not appear to be increasing at the rate they did in the first few years of the Construction Act. It looks as if we are settled on somewhere around 1,100 RICS nominations per year.

The view of the RICS on the question of change to the legislation governing construction adjudication is that it is largely unnecessary and unlikely.