PhD, PE * CEO, Pegasus Global Holdings, Inc, Cle Elum, Washington, USA

Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”). The word alternative is important as parties have a choice as to how they wish to resolve matters of dispute when they arise. Arbitration, by the very concept, is intended to be an efficient and economical means of resolving disputes. Traditionally construction has been an industry that favoured ADR over formal litigation due to the complexity of technical issues not easily conveyed to or understood by a judge or jury. However, over the past decade construction arbitration has come under increasing attack for its rising costs and growing delays, and expansion of arbitration processes to the point that those processes are approaching the more complex and formal processes followed to resolve disputes through litigation. As a result, parties are looking for new methods of resolving their disputes in a more efficient and economical manner, such as originally promulgated by the arbitration process, including the use of internet information and communication (“ICT”). However, a question arises as to whether construction disputes or certain types of construction disputes can be resolved through the means of using the ICT arbitration platform.