The NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract document has cropped up for court guidance in the recent Scottish case of Fraserburgh Harbour Commissioners vs McLaughlin & Harvey Ltd (2021). It seems that the commissioners gave the elbow to the NEC3 adjudication clause and brought their dispute with the contractor straight to litigation. Dear me, that’s a no-no, said McLaughlin & Harvey.

Fraserburgh is way up there in the north-east corner of Scotland, north of Aberdeen, some 600 miles from London. Herring once made folks there a living. That all declined, but in its place grew demand from the oil and gas industry. Dock infrastructure went ahead apace, and McLaughlin & Harvey won the contract to deepen the harbour. It now takes cargo ships up to 100m long. The dispute is about a variety of alleged defects totting up to about £7m. Can you already see why this type of quarrel is not at first glance suited to 28-day adjudication?

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