Construction and Engineering Arbitration Service

RICS has developed new arbitration services for construction and engineering disputes in England and Wales, with the aim of providing unrivalled customer services that meet the expectations of parties to arbitrations in terms of quality, standards and user experience.

CEAS is designed to enable construction and engineering disputes to be referred to decision-makers who have extensive expertise and experience in dealing with such disputes. Our panel of arbitrators are highly qualified and experienced with specialist knowledge of the subject matter, and we ensure that they are independent from any financial or other interest in the outcome of the dispute. The new arbitration services are offered at two levels, depending on the value and complexity of the dispute. These levels are the Fast Track Arbitration Service and the Select Arbitration Service.

Fast Track Arbitration Service

The Fast Track Arbitration Service provides an alternative to the County Court and adjudication for the resolution of disputes where the value is £100,000 or less. Parties may agree to use this service even if their contracts do not provide for arbitration, and we have prepared an example ad-hoc arbitration agreement for use in these circumstances. This service requires an award to be published within six months. It allows a more detailed examination of the issues than adjudication usually offers and strives to achieve better value final and binding decisions than County Court judgments.

Fees and Costs

We charge an administrative fee of £425 (inclusive of VAT) to cover the costs for processing the application for appointment. This fee may be recoverable by the applicant as a cost in the arbitration. Arbitrators appointed under the Fast Track Arbitration Service have a maximum hourly rate and a maximum number of hours for which they can charge. The parties’ recoverable costs are also capped.