Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC)

The core of its membership is located within the practice's Projects Group from where it provides the construction input in relation to major global projects across energy and infrastructure, such as the Jubail refinery project in Saudi Arabia the Simandou iron ore project and the Nizhnekamsk refinery project in Tatarstan, on PFI Projects such as the Dublin Metro, Mersey Gateway and the Buckinghamshire and Norfolk B waste-to-energy projects.

We have extensive experience in the entire range of construction-related projects, from large scale commercial and residential developments to highly complex multi-plant facilities.  We also have extensive experience in advising on all of the major standard form construction contracts, as well as on the most unique of bespoke construction contracts.  This range of experience permits us to structure contracting strategies which fit our clients' commercial and financial requirements regardless of the complexity of the chosen project or financing structure.

Construction and engineering projects inevitably involve a number of risks, requiring the allocation of those risks and the negotiation of suitable contractual terms for their management. Our lawyers understand these risks and the methods for allocating and managing them. They also understand the significance of the construction arrangements within the wider project and are skilled in ensuring the appropriate allocation of construction risks to the party or parties best placed to manage those risks, so ensuring that the relevant project is bankable from a construction risk perspective. These skills also make us unique in identifying and quantifying risks for lenders to projects who require an analytical approach to their project risk diligence. 

Recent examples of our work

• Jubail Oil Refinery - advised Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company  (SATORP), in relation to the USD14.2bn greenfield refining and petro-chemical plant in Saudi Arabia. This deal had the largest deal value transaction of 2011 and was the winner of the Middle East petro-chemicals Deal of the Year in 2010, the PFI Awards in 2011 and the Middle East Oil and Gas Deal of the Year 2010, for Project Finance.
• The Sur Power project in Oman
• The Norfolk B waste-to-energy power project
• El Boleo Mining Project - advising Baja Mining Corp and Minera y Metalurgica del Boleo S.A. de C.V. on the USD1.04 billion greenfield Boleo mining project in Baja, Mexico. The project assembled diverse sources of debt, including Korea Development Bank in its first overseas natural resources financing, and was one of the largest financings for a Mexican mining project to date. The project also features the largest loan ever from U.S. Ex-Im Bank to a mining project, U.S. Ex-Im Bank’s fifth this year, after a long break from mining projects.