News In Focus
1 September 2010
Tram adjudication goes contractor's way
The contractors in Edinburgh's troubled tram project have won a significant adjudication decision in a dispute with the company in charge of the project, it has been disclosed.
Former Court of Session judge Lord Dervaird, appointed to adjudicate on whether the construction consortium led by Bilfinger Berger should begin work where there was no agreement on costs, following a change to the original programme, has ruled that it is under no obligation to do so.
The consortium has refused to continue the tracklaying programme, begun last year after a further dispute, despite efforts by the council-owned Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE) to force it to resume.
TIE claimed it was being "held to ransom" by Bilfinger Berger if a new estimate had to be agreed every time the consortium revised the cost of a job, but the contractors responded that such an interpretation was very unfair, and it had to be clear about what it was doing before it started work.
The two sides are even in dispute over who has had the greater success in the series of adjudications that have taken place since last year.
Although the project was originally due for completion in 2011, current estimates put the delays at between one and two years, and there are doubts over how much of the planned route from the airport through the city centre to Leith and Newhaven can be completed without it running seriously over budget.