GMC Utilities Group Ltd v Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd [2026] EWHC 885 (TCC)

The main contractor, SEI, had built an undersea electricity interconnector between Wales and Ireland and subcontracted installation work. In Part 8 proceedings the parties disputed whether the subcontractor, GMC, had complied with a contractual requirement to commence court or arbitral proceedings by a stated date under an escalation provision.

Mr Simon Lofthouse KC held that GMC, by issuing Part 7 proceedings on 5 March 2025, had satisfied the requirement in the parties' correspondence to commence proceedings in time. The declarations GMC sought proceeded on the contrary assumption that it had failed to do so, and the judge declined to make them, while striking out a passage of a witness statement.

The case shows how a contractual escalation or time-bar clause is applied to the question whether proceedings were commenced in time, and how the court will refuse declarations that rest on an assumption the facts do not support.

Mr Simon Lofthouse KC held that "I decline to make the declarations sought by GMC".