Cases - Birse Construction Ltd v Co-operative Wholesale Society

Record details

Name

Birse Construction Ltd v Co-operative Wholesale Society

Date

[1997]

Citation

EWCA Civ 2062

Keywords

Construction contracts - certification - subcontracts - effect on subcontract of award under main contract - whether sum which ought to have been certified as due under subcontract should be treated as duly certified - JCT Standard Form (1963 ed)

Summary

The appellant contractor was engaged for the construction of a shopping centre. under the 1963 edition of the JCT Standard Form of Building Contract. The respondent was the nominated mechanical and electrical services subcontractor under the so called 'Green Form', which is designed for use where a subcontractor is nominated by the architect under the JCT Form. After completion of the contract work, disputes arose under both the main contract and the subcontract. In an arbitration under the main contract, the arbitrator found that events that were not the responsibility of the main contractor or the subcontractor had caused delay and disruption causing substantial loss and expense including moneys claimed by the subcontractor. The employer did not honour the award. The subcontractor claimed to be entitled, without further proof, to recover amounts in question from the main contractor in an arbitration under the subcontract. The Court of Appeal held that it was implicit where, in an arbitration under the main contract, a tribunal makes an award of a sum which should have been certified as due in respect of the subcontract works, that sum falls to be treated in the subcontract as a sum duly certified, so that, in that respect, the award is binding in the subcontract.