This was a claim to enforce an adjudication decision. The decision allowed Cantillon Ltd £391,565.50 plus VAT and one fifth of this decision related to Cantillon’s claim for 13 weeks extension of time.

Cantillon had submitted two extension of time claims to adjudication, one for 16 weeks and one for 13 weeks. Urvasco Ltd argued that the adjudicator did not have jurisdiction and failed to follow the rules of natural justice with respect to the prolongation costs relating to the 13 week extension of time claim.

Urvasco argued that as Cantillon expressly claimed for a particular 13 week period and for the specific preliminary costs alleged to have been incurred during that period, then the adjudicator could not jurisdictionally and should not have allowed costs for a different and later period, at least without giving Urvasco the opportunity to adduce evidence and argument that the costs during the later period were significantly less than the earlier period. Urvasco argued that this part of the decision was not severable from the other parts of the adjudicator’s decision that had not breached the rules of natural justice.


There were two issues for the judge to consider:

  • Whether the adjudicator had breached the rules of natural justice;
  • If so, whether that part of the adjudicator’s decision that were alleged to offend the rules of natural justice could be severed from the remainder of the decision.