Atlantic Projects Company (UK) Limited v EP NI Energy Limited

Facts

Atlantic Projects Company (UK) Limited, referred to as APC, was engaged by EP NI Energy Limited, a special purpose vehicle incorporated for the development of a power station in Northern Ireland, as contractor for the design, procurement and construction of works relating to that development. The contract, made in October 2021, carried a price originally of the order of £73 million. Clause 14 set out a payment regime broadly in accordance with the Housing Grants Act 1996, as amended, paragraph 14.6 requiring the employer to pay the Notified Sum by the Final Date for Payment and clause 14.6.3 providing for pay less notices served by the engineer on the employer's behalf. Clause 16.2.1(a) entitled the contractor to terminate where it did not receive an amount properly due of £100,000 or more within ten days after the relevant Final Date for Payment. On 19 April 2024 APC gave notice of termination, based principally on alleged failures by the First Defendant to make payments in accordance with the contract, and left site. Very substantial claims followed on each side: APC claims extensions of time, prolongation, disruption costs and other claims in the order of £50 million; the First Defendant claims damages and sums due exceeding £100 million. The Defendant applied for an order for the trial of four proposed preliminary issues directed at paragraph 83 of the Particulars of Claim, in which APC asserted non-payment in five enumerated respects.