Optimising UK Adjudication: Efficiency Gains From Overseas

This article evaluates whether adjudication under Part 2 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (HGCRA) can be procedurally optimised by drawing on statutory adjudication models from overseas—particularly New South Wales’s Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999. The research is based on both doctrinal and functional comparative analyses of international security of payment legislation and adopts an economic lens to assess whether more streamlined mechanisms could reduce transaction costs and promote fairer outcomes. By noting features across jurisdictions and proposing measured reforms - such as adopting statutory claim and response procedures, simplified adjudication commencement, unified statutory rules and restrictions on what can be adduced in adjudication - this article offers a framework for policymakers and practitioners to enhance adjudication’s efficiency and predictability without undermining access to justice. The recommendations support a modernised adjudication system better aligned with the realities of commercial construction and the demands of timely dispute resolution.