In VMA Services Ltd v Project One London Ltd [2024] EWHC 1815 (TCC), the Court was content to enforce an adjudicator’s decision that although Project One had  started the adjudication, it was VMA — the respondent — who should walk away with a monetary award in its favour.

What happened?

VMA submitted an interim application for payment to Project One for mechanical works at a development in Chelsea. Project One did not serve a payment or pay less notice, and the application was left unpaid.

Before VMA could start the usual ‘smash and grab’ adjudication, Project One got in first with an attempted true value adjudication (TVA). To no one’s great surprise, the Adjudicator found that, in the absence of notices, the full amount claimed by TVA stood as the notified sum, and Project One was not entitled to launch a TVA until it had met its immediate obligation to pay that notified sum.

Unusually, however the Adjudicator took the additional step of ordering Project One to pay the notified sum to VMA, despite VMA being the responding party to the adjudication. The question before the Court was whether the Adjudicator had exceeded his jurisdiction in doing so?

What did the Court decide?

• The Judge enforced the Adjudicator’s decision in full.
• Project One’s failure to issue a valid payment or pay less notice created an immediate obligation to pay the notified sum, regardless of any underlying dispute over the value of the works.
• The notified sum must be paid before commencing a TVA.
• An adjudicator can make a monetary award in favour of a responding party where satisfied the notified sum is immediately due and payable to them under the statutory payment regime – “it would be an arid exercise to require VMA to commence another adjudication to recover a sum which had already been determined to be due to them”.

What can we learn from this?

The case is interesting in that it confirms again the Court’s readiness to enforce an adjudication decision awarding payment to a responding party where it has been established that that notified sum is immediately due and payable.

It’s good news for claimant contractors, who won’t have to jump through a further adjudication hoop where the obligation to pay has already crystallised.

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This article contains information of general interest about current legal issues, but does not provide legal advice. It is prepared for the general information of our clients and other interested parties. This article should not be relied upon in any specific situation without appropriate legal advice. If you require legal advice on any of the issues raised in this article, please contact one of our specialist construction lawyers.

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