Technology and Construction Court

Paragraph 1 of the Pre-Action Protocol for Construction and Engineering Disputes provides that the protocol applies to all construction and engineering disputes (including professional negligence claims against architects, engineers and quantity surveyors) subject to the exceptions in para 1.2.

The issue in the present case was whether or not the protocol applied to the claimant’s fees in respect of enabling works; the claimant, a firm of consultant engineers, submitted that that claim was simply a matter of debt recovery, and thus was outwith the scope of the protocol.

HELD The claim for professional fees fell within the term “engineering disputes” in para 1.1. The fact that it might also be characterised as debt collection did not take it outside the scope of that provision. “Debt recovery” was not one of the specified exceptions in para 1.2, and claims for professional fees form a staple part of the work of the Technology and Construction Court.