Huntlee housing project

Negotiated several planning agreements and advising and appearing in two sets of Land and Environment Court proceedings and Court of Appeal proceedings for an A$1.5 billion rezoning and development of land for a whole new town in the Hunter Valley, NSW’s biggest housing project. We have assisted with the delivery of the first 1200 homes and the town centre over the past decade and are now advising on Stage 2 of the project.

West Gate Tunnel Project

Advising the West Gate Tunnel Project on various planning and environmental approval requirements for one of Melbourne’s major linear infrastructure projects as well as on a significant contamination dispute.

Northern Victorian Irrigation Renewal Project

Advised on Commonwealth and State environmental and planning approvals required for the Northern Victorian Irrigation Renewal Project, including implications of the Project on water entitlements.

Redland City Council

Advised Redland City Council in relation to a proposal to service a major new development (~4,000 dwellings) with private water supply (and sewerage) infrastructure.

Queensland Water Pipelines, Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet

Advised the Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet in relation to the proposed sale of three government owned pipelines (Eungella, Blackwater and Collinsville) used to transport water for mining, power generation and other industrial purposes.

Projects Queensland

Assisting Projects Queensland to prepare a scoping study responding to the Independent Commission of Audit’s recommendation in relation to the divestment of SunWater’s industrial water pipeline business, including considering structuring options for the divestment, high level due diligence of key contracts and tenure documents, identifying issues for inclusion in the scoping study and reviewing aspects of the scoping study.

SunWater

Advised SunWater on telecommunications regulatory issues related to its installation and use of fibre optic cable for its water pipelines.

Port of Hastings Development Authority

Advised the Port of Hastings Development Authority on the approvals strategy for the environmental impact assessment, planning and other approvals for the Port of Hastings Container Expansion Project including road and rail infrastructure to connect the port to the existing freight network, and in relation to the Crib Point gas import jetty and gas pipeline project, including representation at the Crib Point Inquiry and Advisory Committee hearing.

Stockland

Advised Stockland over many years on its Growth Centres acquisitions, undertaking environmental and planning due diligence and providing extensive ongoing advice on biodiversity issues.

Risland (formerly Country Garden Australia)

Advised Risland on planning issues associated with its acquisition at Wilton including advice on permissibility, rezoning, Special Infrastructure Contributions and developer contributions, biodiversity and mining-related issues.

Anchorage Capital Partners

Advised Anchorage Capital Partners on the acquisition of department store David Jones from Woolworths Holdings Limited (South Africa).

Coles

Advising Coles Group Limited on the sale of its fuel and convenience business to Viva Energy Group Limited. As part of the A$300 million transaction, Viva Energy will own and operate 710 Coles Express sites.

GeelongPort acquisition

Advised the financiers to US infrastructure investor Stonepeak and Australian superfund Spirit Super for their A$1 billion+ acquisition of GeelongPort.

Hancock

Defending the Rinehart family’s flagship company in respect of multiple high stakes disputes worth AUD A$30-40 billion. The team is currently involved in major proceedings in Federal Court of Australia, Supreme Court of New South Wales and the Supreme Court of Western Australia, as well as in confidential commercial arbitrations.