My attendance at the conference was regrettably limited to Friday 5th June only, when I attended sessions 3, 4, 5, 6 (and of course, the dinner!). The day was organized into two sessions in the morning, and two sessions in the afternoon, each session having a panel of 5 people and a Chairman. Session 3 dealt with Jurisdiction, Limitation of Discovery, Limitation of Recoverable Costs, and multi-party disputes. Session 4 dealt with Provisional Orders, Time Limited Arbitrations, Security for Costs, Peremptory Orders, Compound Interest, and determining recoverable costs. Session 5 dealt with Stays and Summary Judgment, Appeals, Serious Irregularity and Removal of Arbitrators. Session 6, Resignation, Immunity, Court Intervention, Enforcement of Awards and Enforcement of Adjudicators Awards under the Construction Act.

There was a most interesting discussion concerning the various pitfalls surrounding the enforcement of an adjudicator’s awards, and the processes that might be available to the successful party in obtaining the money granted under an adjudicator’s decision. Senior members of the Judiciary on the panel appeared to take the view that there could be very considerable difficulty in processing an adjudication decision to secure payment in the courts.

Other matters discussed concerned the possibility that an Arbitrator would need to be aware of the possibility of a claim for negligence in the event of resignation, and the possible complications that might flow from granting provisional relief.

My only regret was my inability to attend on the Thursday afternoon and the Saturday morning, but nevertheless I derived considerable benefit from the whole day session on Friday, and resolved that next time I would attend for the entire conference.

Don is an experienced architect-arbitrator who practices from Hythe and lives nearby. He is a member of the Architects Law Forum. He is by choice a member of the London Branch, for convenience of travelling. As only one member of the SE Branch attended the Annual Conference this year, Don kindly provided a report of it for us.