ABSTRACT
The parties should bear in mind that they will nevertheless need to pay their own expenses, the mediator’s fee and the cost of the venue. The mediator has no authority to impose a solution, and it may be that the dispute is not resolved. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) offers a mediation scheme, whereby the mediator will be appointed to work with the parties, and is normally paid on a daily rate. The RIBA Scheme states that ‘The customer and the contractor must follow the adjudicator’s decision as part of their obligations under the building contract, unless and until either party obtains a court judgment about the dispute which is different from the decision of the adjudicator’. The adjudicator is required to act impartially.
