Building contract

Following an adjudication pursuant to provisions implied into a construction contract under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, the claimant, A Ltd, made a payment to the defendant, H plc. A Ltd subsequently sought to recover that sum, having commenced proceedings after the time had elapsed when H plc, could bring any claim founded on the original breach of contract or tort. The Supreme Court dismissed H plc’s appeal, deciding that it was a necessary legal consequence of the scheme implied by the Act into the parties’ contractual relationship that A Ltd had to have a directly enforceable right to recover any overpayment to which the adjudicator’s decision could be shown to have led, once there had been a final determination of the dispute.