The Construction Contracts Act

• The Construction Contracts Act 2002 ("the Act") came into force on 1st April 2003.
• The Act applies to all construction contracts after that date and it cannot be contracted out of
• The meaning of construction work is wide and so there are few exemptions
• The Act is designed to redress payment problems existing in the building sector. These included "pay when paid" and "pay if paid" clauses that allowed many sub-contractors to go into liquidation
• Under the Act, if a legitimately claimed payment is not made or another dispute relative to a construction contract arises, any party in the dispute can invoke adjudication
• The Act provides remedies and allows for those remedies to be enforced by the courts.
• All timelines are designed to provide quick recourse. This applies to being paid, seeking adjudication should a dispute arise and invoking the powers of the courts to put a determination into effect
• There are rules to prevent contracting out of the provisions of the Act
• There is the ability of the dispute resolution process (adjudication) to run alongside other dispute resolution processes such as arbitration and litigation.