Darchem Engineering Limited v Bouygues Travaux Publics & Anor [2026] EWHC 220 (TCC)

The subcontract was between two unincorporated joint ventures, and Darchem was one of several companies making up the subcontractor side. Darchem alone referred a dispute to adjudication and obtained a decision in the principal sum of 23,944,012 pounds, then sought summary judgment to enforce it. The defendants said Darchem had no standing to adjudicate on its own.

Mr Justice Constable construed the subcontract definitions and the Option W adjudication machinery and found they were drafted on the basis of two Parties. A single constituent member of the joint venture was not itself a Party, and nothing in the contract gave Darchem authority to start an adjudication unilaterally on behalf of the joint venture. The court noted that if each entity could adjudicate separately, up to four concurrent adjudications on the same point could run, with no machinery to prevent the resulting confusion.

The decision is a caution for consortia and joint ventures. The right to adjudicate belongs to the contracting Party as defined, and a single member of an unincorporated joint venture cannot assume it alone unless the contract clearly says so. Identifying the correct referring entity is a jurisdictional precondition, not a formality.

Mr Justice Constable concluded at paragraph 43 that "Darchem was not a Party, as defined, of the Subcontract" and that "It follows that the summary judgment application fails".