Laing O'Rourke Delivery Limited v Shepperton Studios Limited [2026] EWHC 612 (TCC)

Laing O'Rourke sought to enforce an adjudicator's decision on the validity of payment and pay less notices under a 2021 building contract with Shepperton Studios as employer. The contractor had applied for 5,627,275.11 pounds; the employer's pay less notice detailed deductions totalling 2,428,614.47 pounds.

On the construction of clauses 4.9.3, 4.9.5 and 4.10.1, the judge held that where a payment notice is not in accordance with the contract the contractor is entitled to the sum in its application, subject to any valid pay less notice, and that the pay less notice here was sufficiently detailed and not defective. The proper course for a contractor faced with a defective payment notice is to adjudicate it, accepting that the notified deductions fall to be applied if the notice is good.

The court upheld the decision to the extent of 3,198,660.64 pounds plus VAT, the difference between the application and the pay less deductions, with contractual interest. The case is a practical illustration of how the payment and pay less notice regime operates when the figures in the contractor's own application are wrong.

The judge concluded at paragraph 40: "I conclude that the pay less notice of 19 August 2025 was not defective".