Griffiths offers help in Lovell and Mmaxx feud

Construction minister Nigel Griffiths has invited battling parties Lovell and Mmaxx Underfloor to brief him on their three-year dispute, while Lovell is pressing the adjudicator to step down.

Griffiths told CJ he is happy for solicitors from both firms to brief him on the situation after meeting Mmaxx owner Neil McFarlane.

He said: “I met Neil and said if his solicitor wants to brief me, then I will meet him. I would make the same offer to Lovell.”

McFarlane approached Griffiths last week, claiming that Lovell is pressing the adjudicator to step down in a dispute over work on a housing project in Dunbartonshire. Mmaxx is claiming £3m from Lovell for unpaid work and loss of income during the dispute.

McFarlane said the company has taken the case to the adjudicator 13 times, and only three decisions have so far been reached.

He said: “It’s a case that when you’re marching, you’re not fighting – you’re not focusing on your business. It’s also cost me about £10,000 for each of the adjudications that have been thwarted.

“We’re a small Scottish subcontractor and it’s a David and Goliath situation. Our opponent at every occasion is trying to thwart the adjudication process.”

Mmaxx solicitor Neil Smith of Anderson Strathern told CJ the company will tell the adjudicator to stay on the case. “He must  decide that there is no good reason for him stepping down.”

He added: “What McFarlane hopes is that Griffiths will be sympathetic to the struggles that all subcontractors face in getting a resolution to disputes, and will continue to review the Construction Act to make it work better for the industry.”

McFarlane said: “In the construction industry you put your faith in the Act, thinking it’s a panacea, but then you find out it’s different.”

A spokesman for Lovell owner Morgan Sindall said the company had put the matter in the hands of its lawyers and refused to comment on the situation.