[2006] EWHC 1341 (TCC), 5 June 2006. The court was asked to determine a number of preliminary issues in connection with a steelwork construction sub-contract at the new Wembley National Stadium, where M was the main contractor and C the steelwork sub-contractor. These issues included the extent of the parties obligations under the heads of agreement and supplemental agreement, the extent of the parties agreement as to the correct valuation, M's entitlement to an abatement in respect of defective work, and whether M or C had been entitled to repudiate the sub-contract. "Held": the supplemental agreement had retrospective effect. There was no implied term that C would expedite the work with the diligence and expedition reasonably required to meet the programme dates, although, so far as certain activities were concerned, the heads of agreement obliged it to complete the work in accordance with a projected programme. On the evidence, the parties had agreed to a figure that M was prepared to pay in its valuation certificates, but not a final valuation; M's refusal to make further payments was not a repudiatory breach of contract as it had referred the dispute to adjudication, so C was not entitled to treat the sub-contract as at an end, and was itself in breach by stopping work. M's claim for overheads, insurance and alleged defects could not form part of a claim for diminution in value; so far as the claim for defective design work was concerned, the defence of abatement was not available, and M's only remedy was a claim for damages for professional negligence.

See also L145611 and L145615