It’s the first time Statutory Adjudication will be available under construction contracts in Ireland
Wednesday 26th October 2016. The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland has established an Adjudication Panel of experienced dispute resolvers to deal with construction contract payment disputes.
The move follows the passing of the Construction Contracts Act 2013 which brings statutory adjudication as a means to settle payment disputes into Irish construction contracts for the first time. The new process applies to all construction contracts entered into after 25th July 2016.
Parties to a payment dispute can agree to apply to the Society for a nominated adjudicator from the panel or can agree to select an adjudicator from the Society’s panel. The Society’s panel will provide an alternative to the panel of adjudicators set up by the Junior Minister Pat Breen, Minister of State for Employment and Small Business.
The SCSI believes adjudication can offer a quick and effective alternative to the current forms of dispute resolution and litigation. The SCSI will continue to encourage parties to use non litigious routes to avoid or settle disputes and continue to provide experienced panellists for mediation, conciliation and expert determination.
Gerard O Sullivan, Chair of the Disputes Resolution Standing Committee at the SCSI said the Act introduces a statutory payment process which will aid cash flow in the construction industry and ensure parties have effective remedies where disputes arise.
“Very often existing processes are abused by the parties to delay paying otherwise legitimate claims. Adjudication is fundamentally different, providing a temporarily binding decision within a 28-day to 42 day period from the issue of the referral to the adjudicator.”
“If the losing party wishes to take the matter further to litigation they may do so but in the meantime they will have to abide by the adjudicator’s decision, which can be enforced by way of application to the Courts. This helps balance the financial inequality that often exists between the parties” he said.
Statutory Adjudication is widely used in the UK and other jurisdictions. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is the main established appointing body for adjudicators in the UK and similar processes have been followed by the SCSI in establishing the panel of adjudicators for the Irish construction industry.
The assessments of construction contract payments is a fundamental element of a Chartered Quantity Surveyor’s job which makes them ideally suited to act in the role of adjudicator.
The SCSI panel of adjudicators is available in the Dispute Resolution Section of the Society’s website, located here.
Pro forma application forms are available upon request to the Society’s Head of Regulation; Gwen Wilson at drs@scsi.ie should parties require a nomination from the Society.