A significant ruling relating to building safety was handed down on Monday in BDW Trading Limited v Ardmore Construction Limited, with ramifications for the entire construction industry and all those involved in housebuilding industry, lawyers say.
In short, BDW can now revive a stale contractual claim from a project 20 years ago – making it qualify for adjudication.
Mrs Justice Joanna Smith, sitting in the Technology & Construction Court, handed down judgment in BDW Trading Limited v Ardmore Construction Limited, enforcing the decision of an adjudicator, John Riches, that Ardmore deliberately concealed missing cavity barriers from BDW and others when it constructed the 280+ unit apartment at Crown Heights in Basingstoke between 2004 and 2006.
Ardmore had argued that the adjudicator had no jurisdiction to hear the claim. The judge disagreed.
Mark Pritchard, partner at law firm Howard Kennedy, who leads the team representing BDW, said: “This is a hugely significant ruling for the construction industry as a whole and for any parties engaged in house-building. We now have clarity that both claimant house-builders and their defendant contractors can refer to adjudication all the building safety cases which have threatened to clog up the courts for the next 10 years or more.
“The decision is consistent with public policy, as the government looks to release pressure on the courts system by directing certain types of cases away to other forms of dispute resolution. Moreover, it reflects the recent development of case law in relation to adjudication business where, through cases such as Murphy v Mayer, Aspect Contracts v Higgins and Bresco, the courts have sought to extend the ambit of adjudication.
“Crucially this ruling has confirmed that a party to a construction contract, who can bring an adjudication at any time, may do so after the usual contractual limitation periods expire.”
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