Construction adjudication.
Counsel for Construction Act adjudication — smash-and-grab, true-value, jurisdictional challenges and TCC enforcement. Fast turnaround on referrals and responses.
Adjudication is the dominant first-instance forum for UK construction disputes. Most payment and valuation arguments under JCT, NEC and bespoke contracts now run through adjudication before they ever see the inside of a courtroom. The timetable is brutal — 7 days to refer, 28 days to a decision — and the outcome is binding until overturned in litigation or arbitration, which almost never happens in practice.
Clerk&Counsel places BSB-registered construction counsel on both sides of adjudications across the UK and on TCC enforcement. We are a clerking agency, not a chambers, and we route instructions to specialist counsel based on fit, availability and fee — including out of hours when a referral has already landed.
Types of adjudication we cover.
The construction barristers we place are instructed on the full range of Construction Act adjudications, including:
- Smash-and-grab adjudications on payment and pay less notice validity — for both referring and responding parties.
- True-value adjudications on the value of work properly carried out, including variations, loss and expense, and disputed measurement.
- Final account adjudications on JCT, NEC3, NEC4 and bespoke amended forms.
- Extension-of-time and prolongation adjudications, including programme-based and concurrent-delay arguments.
- Defects and remedial-cost adjudications, including Building Safety Act and cladding remediation.
- Termination and repudiation adjudications, including step-in by funders.
- Jurisdictional challenges, including 'multiple disputes', crystallisation and the 'in writing' requirements.
- Natural justice arguments — bias, late material, undisclosed contact with the adjudicator.
- Adjudications by and against insolvent companies under the Bresco / Meadowside framework.
How a typical adjudication runs.
A referring party serves a notice of adjudication, secures the appointment of an adjudicator (by agreement or via a nominating body — RICS, RIBA, TeCSA, CIArb), and serves the referral within 7 days. The responding party serves a response (usually within 7 to 14 days), the referring party serves a reply, and the adjudicator decides within 28 days unless extended.
Most adjudications are decided on paper. Oral hearings, site visits and expert meetings are used where the adjudicator considers them necessary or where the parties press for them. Decisions are typically reasoned and run from a handful of pages to a substantial judgment on a final-account case.
Counsel's role is to make sure the case is properly framed and proportionately argued for a 28-day timetable, not a six-week trial. The temptation to over-litigate the referral is the most common reason good cases lose; the temptation to under-respond is the most common reason good defences fall over.
TCC enforcement and challenges.
Where a paying party does not honour an adjudicator's decision, the winning party issues Part 8 enforcement in the TCC, supported by a witness statement exhibiting the contract, the notices, the referral and the decision. Enforcement is typically listed within 6 to 8 weeks. Defences are narrow — breach of natural justice, lack of jurisdiction, fraud — and the TCC has a long-standing pro-enforcement stance.
We place specialist TCC counsel on both sides of enforcement, including stays of execution on Bresco / Meadowside grounds and on cash-flow / insolvency grounds.
Briefing us on an adjudication.
When you brief us on a construction adjudication, we:
- Run conflict checks and identify a shortlist of suitable counsel — often within hours.
- Confirm availability across the 28-day window, including any oral hearing days.
- Confirm indicative fees, usually fixed for the referral or response and stage-fee thereafter.
- Handle the engagement letter and onboarding paperwork digitally.
Adjudication notice landed?
Send us the contract, the notices and the latest payment correspondence. A clerk will come back with shortlisted counsel and indicative fixed fees, usually within hours.
Common questions.
What is construction adjudication?
Construction adjudication is a fast, statutory dispute-resolution process under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. Any party to a written construction contract has the right to refer a dispute to an adjudicator at any time. The adjudicator must produce a decision within 28 days of the referral (extendable by 14 days with the referring party's consent, or longer by agreement). The decision is binding until finally resolved by litigation, arbitration or agreement, and is enforced summarily in the Technology and Construction Court.
What is the difference between a smash-and-grab and a true-value adjudication?
A smash-and-grab adjudication seeks payment of the 'notified sum' because the paying party failed to serve a valid payment or pay less notice in time. The adjudicator decides only whether the notices were valid; if not, the notified sum is payable. A true-value adjudication asks the adjudicator to value the work in question on its merits. Following S&T v Grove and the subsequent line of authority, a paying party cannot run a true-value adjudication until it has paid the smash-and-grab sum.
How quickly can you get counsel on an adjudication?
Adjudication runs on Construction Act timetables — 7 days from notice of adjudication to referral, then 28 days to decision. We can usually identify and brief suitable counsel within hours, including out of hours where the referral has already landed. The earlier we see the contract and the notices, the better the strategic options.
Can a barrister both advise and draft the referral?
Yes. Counsel commonly drafts the notice of adjudication, the referral and the supporting witness evidence, advises on the choice of adjudicator and on tactical timing, and then responds to the rejoinder or runs the oral hearing if one is convened. For a responding party, counsel can draft the response, advise on jurisdiction challenges and run any TCC challenge to enforcement.
What about enforcement?
Adjudication decisions are enforced under Part 8 in the TCC, typically within 6 to 8 weeks of issue. Defences are narrow — usually breach of natural justice, lack of jurisdiction or fraud. We place specialist TCC counsel for both sides of enforcement, including the Bresco line of authority on insolvent claimants.
Can a sub-contractor in financial difficulty still adjudicate?
Following Bresco v Lonsdale in the Supreme Court, an insolvent company can still refer a dispute to adjudication; whether the resulting decision is enforceable depends on cross-claims, set-off and the practical injustice test in Meadowside. We will be honest about the enforcement risk before recommending the spend.