Around 400 new arbitration cases
and more than 1000 expert appraisal cases
each year

About the Danish Building and Construction Arbitration Board

The Danish Building and Construction Arbitration Board offers dispute resolution in the field of building and construction when the parties agree on this course of action. Generally the parties use a standard document for the building and construction industry, eg AB92 or AB18, but other resolution methods may also be agreed. This applies to all types of works, ranging from commercial office buildings to large-scale civil structures such as bridges and roads, and from school buildings to cooperative housing estates and single-family homes.

The Arbitration Board offers mediation and conciliation services, which may lead to faster and less expensive dispute resolution through assistance in achieving a settlement.

If requested to do so, the Arbitration Board may appoint an expert appraiser to appraise errors and omissions or a specialist expert to determine the justification of amounts drawn on security provided. In addition, an arbitral tribunal composed of legal and/or technical arbitrators with expertise in the matter in dispute may be set up to make a final decision in the case. The possibility of combining legal and technical insight is one of the strengths of the Arbitration Board.

Another major asset of the Arbitration Board is that cases can involve many parties, including third parties joined in the case: a client, several contractors and subcontractors, as well as consultants. This means that all parties can be heard in one place at the same time on the basis of their agreement, and that disputes can be resolved collectively.

If the parties so desire, proceedings may be conducted in English.

The Arbitration Board was established in its current form in 1972 at the request of organisations in the industry. It began its activities on 1 January 1973. The Arbitration Board is a private enterprise working on a non-profit basis without any public financial support.

The photographs used on this website have been selected solely for their visual quality and do not indicate that the building and construction projects illustrated have been or are the subject of cases referred to the Arbitration Board.

Welcome to the Danish Building and Construction Arbitration Board

We hope that this website  will lead to transparency and clarity as regards the work, procedures, roles and costs of the Arbitration Board.

We wish to ensure that professionals such as lawyers and appraisal experts have easy access to frequently used information such as rules and regulations, and that non-professionals can gain better insight into the workings of the Arbitration Board.

Please do not hesitate to contact the secretariat if any questions.

Lene Ahlmann-Ohlsen
Executive Director

News

02.07.2018

AB-18 introduces mediation and conciliation as part of the AB system.

The arbitration panel has offered mediation and conciliation since 2004. The interest in this type of conflict management has increased – in 2017, 15 cases were filed against 3 cases in 2016.

The difference between mediation and conciliation at The Danish arbitration Board is that the mediator assists the parties resolving the dispute themselves, where the process can help restore a distorted collaboration. The mediator can, for example, not guide the parties or make conciliation proposals. The conciliator, however, is not refused to come up with conciliation proposals.

The Arbitration Board has in recent years, in cooperation with the Mediation Institute, helped ensuring that more people with solid insight into the construction industry are trained as mediators and conciliators. The mediators are for example. lawyers or other lawyers, architects, engineers or other persons with a technical background. As conciliators, people with technical background, but also lawyers, are mostly used. It is also possible to combine more skills in choosing more mediators or conciliators.

The arbitration board emphasizes that the mediators used have good insight and experience in the construction industry.

The Arbitration Board and the Mediation Institute will work together to ensure that both mediators and brokers are further educated to create knowledge sharing and gathering information on the impact of these dispute resolution forms in the construction industry and in relation to general information.