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Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner brings enduring value to client relationships. By combining the practice expertise, industry knowledge and market connections of 1400 lawyers in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with our recognised leadership in applying legal service and technology innovation, we deliver commercial advantage to clients.
Working as one team, we bring to our clients a range of integrated capabilities, including some of the world’s most active M&A, real estate, financial services, litigation and corporate risk practices.
BCLP’s district heat network team
At BCLP our district heat network team is led by Deborah Greenwood and Kenneth Addly who have advised on a wide range of district heating (and cooling) schemes.
As a primarily real estate-centred law firm BCLP often advises on schemes from inception through planning and construction and onto continuing operation, and this means we have significant experience in a number of areas which may be of interest to UK District Energy Association members. We set out a number of these areas below:
(a) differing procurement models for heat networks, including the relative benefits and challenges of models such as concessions and leases, including regarding access and maintenance requirements;
(b) the availability of low carbon energy subsidies to energy centres in district heating schemes, and procedure for obtaining subsidies;
(c) the negotiation of heat connection agreements and heat supply agreements, including compliance with consumer rights law and compliance with best practice Heat Trust industry standards;
(d) the role of estate management companies, ESCOs and MUSCOS in the safeguarding of long-term utilities provision;
(e) charging structures and heat tariffs;
(f) compliance of arrangements with statutory requirements including the likely regime post the CMA Report on Heat Networks;
(g) the interaction of supply agreements (and charges) with statutory requirements such as the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985; and
(h) the requirements for exclusivity regarding heating (and cooling) provision to premises in order to ensure the commercial viability of district heating schemes.
Our depth of experience has been gained on a range of transactions, from larger developments such the heat network at the Stratford Olympic Village (where we were retained by the Olympic Development Corporation and its successor, the London Legacy Development Corporation), the ‘new town’ North West Cambridge development (where we are retained by the University of Cambridge) and a major urban regeneration scheme in Bermondsey, through to smaller individual matters such as acting for the cornerstone tenant in a landmark Thames-side property development in relation to its heat supply and all heat-related transactions for a major retailer.
District heat networks do not, however, exist in a vacuum and our real estate and wider low carbon energy and utilities experience allow us to provide pragmatic solutions to the structuring of district heat network scheme development. If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised above, please do get in touch:
Contact
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Tel: +44 (0)207 064 3300