What is the Technology and Construction Court ?

This article is all is about the Technology and Construction Court in the United Kingdom which ultimately enforces Adjudication decisions (should the losing party not pay up).

Stravelles run a course in Adjudication which aims to allow the student to run their own adjudication as the referring or responding party without paying for legal representation.

We support legal representation in more complex cases, but we want to encourage especially smaller companies to feel more confident fighting for their contractual rights.

What's in this Article ?

Introduction

The Technology and Construction Court in the United Kingdom is a specialist court that hears disputes concerning buildings, engineering and surveying.

This is the name given to a collective GROUP of courts Administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service. The main high court is based in London but there are several county courts in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham and Manchester.

These courts are part of the Business and Property Court of the High Court of Justice.

The main address of the high court at the time of writing was:

The Technology and Construction Court
7 Rolls Buildings
Fetter Lane
London
EC4A 1NL
United Kingdom

All county courts have separate addresses spread across the country.

In the High Court the case will be heard by a High Court judge or by certain circuit judges and recorders.

The county court cases will be heard by circuit judges, or by certain district judges and recorders.

What does the court deal with?

This specialist court deals in disputes about:

The court deals with disputes regarding
The services provided by Architects, Surveyors, Engineers and other professionals in Technology and Construction
Local authorities’ duties concerning buildings and land
Any environmental claims (for example water pollution)
Any claims relating to fires
Any claims or challenges relating to the decisions of Arbitrators in engineering and construction disputes

How do you get a summary judgement from the Technology and Construction Court ?

What happens if the Adjudicators decision awards you £50,000 but the losing party does not pay up ?

If this happens you must request a summary decision from The Technology and Construction Court forcing the losing party to pay.

Should they decide not to pay up then you can apply for that company to be liquidated.

In most cases you can apply to The Technology and Construction Court using the Claim Form N1 (CPR Part 7). This form is to make a claim against a person or organisation so its sort of a catch all form. There is nothing complicated about this form, its a standard courts form and is simply administration (in a good way).

You fill the form in, include a copy of your notice of intention to refer a dispute to adjudication, a copy of the Adjudicators decision plus an application notice.

Then you lodge the paperwork with the appropriate court, and you should directions from the judge in a couple of days. Depending on the complexity of your case the judge might allow a period of 28 days before the enforcement hearing takes place or it may be a matter of days.

What does the form look for?

You need to give The Technology and Construction Court all of the information it needs — remember, it knows nothing about your adjudication.

So, you give the following information:

the form of construction contract used e.g. was it an oral contract or say a JCT contract ?
the jurisdiction of the adjudicator – did the Adjudicator have jurisdiction because of an express contract clause or because of The Construction Act or The Scheme ?
the procedural rules under which the adjudication was conducted – it will say this in the adjudicators decision
the adjudicator’s decision- simply a copy of this document
the relief sought (usually the money award mentioned in the decision)
the grounds for seeking that relief – i.e. because the losing party has not paid up yet

If the Adjudicators decision is not about money then you should use CPR part 8.

What is an application notice?

An application notice is simply more administration. Its just another form to fill in.

Try Form N244 as an example of an application notice.

You will most likely seek a summary of judgement under CPR Part 24 and an abridgement of time setting out the procedural steps to this summary judgement being issue.

Which court should you lodge your paperwork with?

Once you have all your paperwork you should lodge it with an appropriate court. Remember The Technology and Construction Court is the name given to a collection of courts including the high court and the county courts.

If the claim is for over £250,000 or unusually complicated it should go to the high court. Otherwise lodge the paperwork with the nearest county court.

Either way clearly mark the envelope as “paper without notice adjudication enforcement claim and application for the urgent attention of a TCC judge”.

Because your application is regarding the enforcement of an Adjudication decision you will get high priority.

How long does it take to get a summary Judgement?

A TCC judge give directions in connection with your application within three working days of receiving the application.

These directions will usually be to serve the losing party (now the defendant) with a copy of the application and will organise an enforcement hearing within 28 days of the directions being issued.

In simple cases this period will be a lot less.

So, applying to the court is a matter of filling in several forms which is tedious but you will get there!