Expertise - Environment
Clients come to us for clear and commercial advice as well as innovative solutions on a range of environment, health and safety (EHS) and climate change issues. In addition to offering first class support on corporate and real estate transactions, projects and finance related matters, the department has a burgeoning stand-alone practice.Our principal areas of expertise include:
- contaminated land and Brownfield redevelopment
- identification and management of EHS liabilities
- compliance and permitting
- defending and challenging enforcement action
- environmental litigation and disputes
- chemicals regulation and REACH
- product stewardship
- climate change and clean technology
- green real estate
- waste management
- health & safety
Travers Smith´s independent status enables us to pick the best local lawyers for any given situation. As a result, we offer a genuine and truly dedicated cross-border EHS and climate change service. This flexibility, together with our strong links with technical consultants, insurers, regulators and policy makers, means that our Environment department is widely recognised as one of the leading EHS practices in the UK.
Recent highlights include advising:
- ABB BritNed Connector on its delivery of BritNed, the second international power interconnector for the UK, and in particular the structuring and management of environmental liabilities, the provision of insurance and the remediation of a complex contaminated Brownfield site
- Phoenix Equity Partners on its £133m acquisition of ASCO and in particular assessing the compliance of waste management facilities and quayside operations at 47 sites across Europe, Canada, USA and Trinidad
- Infinity Bio-Energy Ltd. on its reverse takeover of a Brazilian bio-ethanol company
- an industrial landlord on the voluntary clean-up of a heavily contaminated UK site and defending against formal designation and enforcement action
- US chemical company on its emergency response to a potentially explosive solvent gas build-up in sewers underlying homes surrounding its facility
- US multinational on a range of REACH and more general EU chemical law issues
- a number of funds and private equity houses on the UK's new CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme
- Climate Exchange plc on a major joint venture collaboration with the Bank of America
- the formation of two major carbon funds backed by the EIB and EBRD
- Peel Holdings on its joint venture with United Utilities plc to establish a new partnership to design, construct and operate what will be one of the largest on-shore wind farms in the UK at Scout Moor
- Lucchini, the Italian steel producer, on the EU Emission Trading Scheme
- an international oil and gas supply company on the health and safety liabilities and responsibilities under the new Corporate Manslaughter Act
