ABSTRACT
The nature of dispute resolution involving allegations against construction professionals has been transformed since 1999 when a new style of litigation was introduced. The Civil Procedure Rules, which came into force in April 1999, were intended to remove the unnecessarily adversarial aspects of litigation and to require the parties to a dispute to attempt to ensure that litigation was the last resort after all cheaper and quicker avenues of dispute resolution had been considered. Potential parties to a dispute were required to discuss the nature and scope of the dispute in candid correspondence with a view to narrowing differences and seeking common ground. Alternative dispute resolution techniques such as mediation and conciliation were to be encouraged. Litigation itself was to be both less technical and more open, with the courts keeping a keen eye on the parties to ensure that they did not take too long or incur unacceptable costs. The new mood has had an impact on the way in which all disputes involving construction professionals are conducted, increasing the early exchange of important information between parties, increasing the availability of informal structures aimed at promoting settlement, limiting some of the uncertainties in litigation and substantially reducing not merely the time and costs of litigation but also the number of cases going to trial.
