Edited by: Peter Fenn, Michael O’Shea and Edward D
E & FN Spon
£110
Pages: 888
I've often thought that not all construction markets could be as riven with conflict as the UK's. I was wrong, as this hardback of close on 900 pages makes clear.
Disputes about time, money and quality arise all too easily between clients and contractors, contractors and subcontractors. Arbitration, litigation, adjudication, mediation and conciliation are just some of the ways to settle them. More a brochure than a guidebook, Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management in Construction signposts how the construction industry solves its disputes in different countries. The book explains the options available rather than acting as a comprehensive guide to the complex intricacies of each method. This makes it relatively easy to consult, especially as the typeface is clear and the pages well laid out.
In my experience the quickest and cheapest way to settle disputes is to talk to the other party and seek an amicable settlement. Only when this fails should the heavyweight processes of arbitration and litigation come into play, although adjudication, introduced to the UK in 1998 under the Construction Act, is legally binding and has speeded up the process.
Dispute Resolution opens a window on the world, offering an insight into alternative techniques of dispute resolution. Dipping in is a useful exercise. I came across the Australian Report, commonly known as No Dispute, which offers valuable guidelines for settling disputes.
Each of the 20 chapters covers one country and provides an overview of local economic and political climates, along with current dispute resolution techniques, split between binding and non-binding.
What is surprising is the sheer number of ways the construction world has found to settle its arguments. What intrigued me was that the number of methods had, in most cases, a direct link with the wealth of a country. So Estonia, tipped as the Hong Kong of the Baltic, generally uses the courts to settle disputes, whereas the real Hong Kong uses the full range, from negotiation, mediation, adjudication and arbitration, right up to the three-tiered court system.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the relatively recent creation of the 15-member European Union means that methods of dispute resolution are not the same Europe-wide. Take mediation. In Italy it is not officially recognised; in Scotland it is little used; but in Sweden, construction disputes are frequently settled by it. Until this and the many other differences in contractual arrangements across the world are standardised, a global branded construction company the size of Coca-Cola or McDonald's is a long way off.
One irritation is Dispute Resolution's overuse of words with epic proportions. Oxymoron, zeitgeist, taxonomy and monograph all make far too many appearances.
Until this book, there was no comprehensive single point of reference to compare conflict management and dispute resolution methods globally. Dispute Resolution should turn out to be a valuable weapon in the armoury of the international claims community, legal eagles and the commercial departments of construction companies trading around the world.
Source
Construction Manager
Postscript
Tony Ward runs his own consultancy, Award Construction Consultants, which specialises in the settlement of difficult final accounts and dispute resolution. He can be contacted at tony@awardconsultants.freeserve.co.uk
