An Analysis of the Demarcation of Construction Projects for Dispute Resolution by Adjudication

The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 seeks to improve productivity of the UK construction industry by imposing on qualifying construction industry contracts a transparent payment protocol and a right to contractual parties to refer disputes for resolution by adjudication. A qualifying construction contract is defined to exclude certain types of construction industry contracts from the ambit of the legislation. These exclusions have been the subject of extensive and costly litigation concerning the demarcation between contracts types within, as against those outside, the legislation. Using legal research methods, this paper critically analyzes the issues in the litigation to extract implications for adjudication practice and policy review. As a reflection of the global nature of payment challenges and disputes on construction projects, the UK legislative intervention is being emulated in many countries. The UK experience therefore offers lessons on how the demarcation problem may be approached in other jurisdictions.