Arbitration for construction lawyers

Arbitration is a procedure in which a dispute is submitted, by agreement of the parties, to one or more arbitrators who make a binding decision on the dispute. In choosing arbitration, the parties opt for a private dispute resolution procedure instead of going to court.

The Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996) is the principal English arbitration statute. AA 1996, s 1 states that:

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the object of the arbitration is to obtain the fair resolution of disputes by an impartial tribunal without unnecessary delay or expense
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the parties should be free to agree how their disputes are resolved, subject only to such safeguards as are necessary in the public interest
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court intervention should be restricted

Arbitration used to be very popular as a method of resolving disputes in the construction industry. This is less so now for UK domestic disputes as a result of the increase in the use of adjudication and the increasing expertise of the Technology and Construction Court. However, arbitration is still popular as a method of resolving disputes for international contracts.

See Practice Note: An introduction to arbitration

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