Adjudication is currently used almost exclusively in the construction and engineering industry.
The Adjudicator is usually a construction or engineering expert or barrister specialising in technology and construction law appointed to give an opinion on the issue (sometimes technical) to allow work to carry on.
Adjudication is not intended to be a complete legal statement, but to provide a working interpretation of the contractual situation.
Generally arbitrators and courts will tend to support the Adjudicator’s decision unless there has been an obvious conflict with the applicable law. Adjudication is preferred because it is seen as being fast and dirty giving the parties some certainty about their entitlement and enables some control to be kept over the solution to the dispute.
The way forward is shown by the success of Adjudication under the Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. The process could easily be considered as Arbitration under the Arbitration Act 1996 to which the rules of natural justice apply.