Much abused, too costly, overused. Much ink has been spilled on the perceived shortcomings of the adjudication process, much of it hyperbolic and nearly all anecdotal. Do those loudest voices reflect industry consensus?

Addleshaw Goddard and Dr Ian Trushell of Glasgow Caledonian University set about to find out, embarking on an industry-wide quantitative study of attitudes to and perceptions of the adjudication process. The team asked a cross-section of contractors, consultants, quantity surveyors, developers, and private practice and in-house lawyers in England, Wales and Scotland for their opinions on a range of aspects of adjudication – from whether adjudicators get the right answer, to whether parties abuse the process, and how they view various adjudicator charging models. We then drew out statistically significant results as well as comparisons across jurisdiction, by industry role and by type of participant (adjudicators, experts, parties and party representatives).

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