In a sector as heavily regulated as water and waste, it is vital to understand how the legal framework impacts on your business goals.
Population growth, urbanisation, drought, global warming, environmental degradation and agricultural demands are impacting the sector and driving an ever-increasing body of legislation to combat concerns about the environment, climate change and sustainability. Regulators are placing new and more stringent demands upon businesses to meet enhanced environmental standards. In turn, environmental liabilities and requirements are featuring more and more in everyday business transactions.
Integrated advice from our industry experts
As experts in water and waste regulation and with experience acting on upstream, midstream and downstream matters, we can help you identify issues and contextualise solutions that allow you to make informed and confident judgements. We’ve worked on a range of transactions and have close working relationships with regulators. For you as a client, this means quality advice and real insight that creates value, mitigates risk and maximises opportunity.
Our lawyers advise water and sewerage companies, local councils, government agencies, corporate landowners investment banks and infrastructure investors on all water and waste-related issues – including:
- Environmental compliance
- Investing in the water and waste sector – mergers, acquisitions and disposals
- Planning advice for infrastructure projects
- Compulsory purchase orders
- Competition and regulatory issues, including price control
- Project, corporate and structured financing
- Project development, including public private partnerships (PPPs)
- Construction and engineering procurement
- Outsourcing, operating and maintenance contracts
- Review of regulatory decisions
- Related technology projects
Our recent experience
- Advising a government on a procurement for renewable energy using dam storage assets to support pumped hydro projects and associated renewable energy and storage facilities.
- Advising Sydney Water and the NSW Government on the development and private sector funding on a regulated asset basis of the A$2.3 billion Sydney Desalination Plant and the Water Pipeline across Botany Bay to the Erskineville main, which included advising on acquisition and compensation disputes for land acquired and on possible expansion options.
- Acting for the Queensland Government dam authority Seqwater in the Class Action concerning the 2011 Queensland Floods in the largest class action in Australian legal history with an estimated A$2 billion claim, currently on appeal to the NSW Court of Appeal.
- Advising on the complex financing of the Springvale Mine Water Treatment Plant.
- Advising a bidder for the Trility Water portfolio of assets.
- Advising Sunwater on a number of pipeline projects including Nathan Dam, Glebe Weir raising, Woleebee Creek, Kenya to Chinchilla, Moranbah to Alpha, Gorge Weir to Byerwen and Burdekin pipeline.
- Water regulatory advice to Stanwell Corporation for the Burdekin Dam Hydro proposal.
- Advice on water entitlements and commercial arrangements for BMA, Pembroke Resources and China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation.
- Advising on the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s introduction of the new access laws applying to the water industry, as well as advice on retailer of last resort and supplier of last resort arrangements in NSW water industry.
- Advising CEFC on all aspects of a state-of-the-art organic composting plant valued at A$60 million.
- Advising the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science on siting, development and other associated issues relating to a national radioactive waste management facility.
