In this final edition for 2024 we return to three topics that will be well known to the ICLR readership: extension of time provisions, global claims and statutory adjudication. We do so consciously; these subjects are central to anyone active in construction and infrastructure, whether employers, contractor or professionals. The second half of our final edition reflects the prominence of the Middle East in large infrastructure projects with a review of the mediation of construction disputes in the region and secondly, a report on the new Civil Transactions Law in Saudi Arabia and its impact on FIDIC time bar clauses.

We start with a comprehensive review of extension of time provisions, which as the author’s title acknowledges, are the basis for many claims and disputes in the construction industry. In Shut Your Eyes, Grope in The Dark And … Never Look Back? Are Extension of Time Provisions Unworkable and Prone to Disputes? Angel Garcia Dominguez reviews the efficacy of extension of time provisions across the most commonly used standard forms and assesses whether the provisions work as intended or whether, as he concludes, some revision might be warranted. Dominguez starts his analysis focusing on the position under English law, before moving into other jurisdictions for a comparative element. Having carried out a detailed assessment, his conclusion is that flexibility based on principles of fairness and reasonableness should be promoted in the standard forms, with a recommendation to follow the Australian and Swedish approaches. His suggested potential amendments to the standard forms will be of interest to all involved in negotiating contracts.

The drafters of the original statutory adjudication scheme in England and Wales back in the 1990s could hardly have imagined the extent to which statutory adjudication would come to dominate domestic construction disputes across major common law jurisdictions. Frédéric Gillion, Christopher Seaman and Johanne Brocas ask whether statutory adjudication is a passing trend, or, whether it is here to stay on the wider global stage. In Statutory Adjudication – Worldwide Domination, or A Passing Trend? Lessons From Early Adopters and Roadmap For New Players they argue that recent developments suggest a growing trend, alongside an effort to harmonise the approach internationally with the drafting of a Model Law on Statutory Adjudication. Gillon, Seaman and Brocas provide a detailed overview of the various international regimes and conclude that the growing trend can be expected to continue, at least in common law jurisdictions. Next, they draw upon the experience of early adopters of statutory adjudication, before assessing Hong Kong, as the relative newcomer in the world of statutory adjudication and then examining the possibility of worldwide harmonisation with the draft Model Law. In the final section the authors