Balfour Beatty Regional Construction Ltd v Grove Developments Ltd
Citation: [2016] EWCA Civ 990
This was a Part 8 claim considering the effect of a contract which, by subsequent agreement, included an agreed schedule of payment dates. The schedule ended at the original contractual completion date, but in fact the project overran by over a year raising a question of what the contractual position was in respect of interim payments after the dates in the schedule had run out.
The contractor brought an adjudication claiming £23 million in respect of a payment application which post-dated the last date in the schedule and in response the employer commenced Part 8 proceedings seeking declarations from the Court that there was no further right to interim payments beyond the last date in the schedule. The result was that the contractor was required to wait until the final account for any further payment. The claim raised issues of contractual interpretation, implied terms and the scope of section 109 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.
In the High Court, Stuart Smith J found in favour of the Claimant employer and found that no further payments were due to be made until the final payment under the contract.
The contractor appealed but the appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal determined that on a proper construction of the contract and payment schedule, it was clear that there was no agreement to interim payments after the last entry in the schedule, there was no implied term and that such an approach was permitted by virtue of s.109 the Housing Grants Act.
Counsel: Alexander Nissen QC and William Webb appeared on behalf of the Claimant/Respondent
