Abstract
This chapter concerns the very broad and varied issues that may arise in evidence gathering and evidence assessment in construction arbitration. When parties work together for a long time, as the case usually is in the construction industry, their cooperation involves a complex set of facts and diverse legal questions.
This is further amplified by the fact that construction arbitration often involves a number of parties with divergent interests. A multiparty construction dispute may involve a contractor and an employer as the contractual parties to the contract for work and also many subcontractors, project managers, architects, designers, consultants, engineers, suppliers and banks or insurance companies.
Apart from the hurdle of consolidating all these parties into one arbitral proceeding while relying on their consent, such cooperation also generates accordingly voluminous documentation. These features of construction arbitration generally require arbitral tribunals to use their powers towards careful case management and efficient conduct of the proceedings from the very beginning.
Importantly, the proactive role of the tribunal is essential with regard to taking of evidence. These issues and the role of the arbitral tribunal are summarized in the introduction of the chapter (§ 8.01) followed by a description of the process of evidence gathering (§ 8.02).
The chapter further focuses on the forms the evidence is usually manifested in: documentary (§ 8.03), expert (§ 8.04) and factual evidence (§ 8.05). The findings are summarized in the conclusion (§ 8.06).