Consenting and regulatory strategy
Route selection, environmental statements, examination support and the difficult conversation about programme risk that follows.
- Development consent orders
- Cross-border permitting
- Judicial review readiness
Infrastructure advisory since 1994
Capital projects that survive contact with the regulator.
We advise utilities, transport authorities and their lenders on the projects that cannot fail quietly — grid connections, tunnels, water treatment, interconnectors. Thirty-one years, four continents, and a habit of saying the unwelcome thing early.
Current mandate
North Sea interconnector, phase two
Lender's technical adviser on a 1.4 GW link, including consenting strategy across two jurisdictions and a contested seabed route.
- €2.1bnCapital value
- 2029Energisation
- 31Years advising on regulated assets
- £46bnCapital value advised, 2020–2025
- 94%Mandates from repeat clients
- 17Regulatory jurisdictions
Practice
Four things, done properly
We decline work outside these. A firm that claims every capability has none of them.
Lender's technical adviser
Independent review of cost, programme and contractor capability, written for a credit committee rather than a project board.
- Due diligence and base-case review
- Drawdown certification
- Completion testing
Dispute and claims
Delay and quantum analysis, expert witness work, and settlement support when the alternative is four years in arbitration.
- Forensic programme analysis
- Expert determination
- Adjudication support
Asset management review
Whole-life cost, renewals planning and the regulatory submission that has to defend both.
- Price control submissions
- Renewals modelling
- Condition assessment
Selected mandates
Work we can talk about
Much of what we do is covered by confidentiality. These are the mandates our clients have agreed we can name.
Energy
2022–2025
Offshore transmission, four-asset portfolio
Technical adviser to the acquiring consortium across four OFTO assets. We re-based the availability assumptions in the sponsor model, which moved the bid by nine figures and was not a welcome finding at the time.
Outcome
- £1.3bnTransaction value
- 4Assets, single close
Outcome
- 18 moProgramme recovered
- NilClaims to arbitration
Water
2023–2024
Treatment works recovery, regulated utility
A £340m works two years late with three contractors in dispute. We ran the forensic programme analysis, then chaired the commercial settlement that kept all of it out of arbitration.
They told us the programme was undeliverable in the second week, with the evidence to prove it. Every other adviser had waited until month five.
Sectors
Where we work, and where we do not
| Sector | Mandates since 2020 | Typical role | Accepting work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity transmission | 61 | Lender's adviser | Yes |
| Water and wastewater | 44 | Owner's engineer | Yes |
| Rail and metro | 29 | Programme assurance | Yes |
| Ports and marine | 18 | Technical due diligence | Yes |
| Nuclear new build | 7 | Claims and disputes | Selectively |
| Commercial property | 0 | — | No |
Sortable — click a column heading. Figures are mandates opened, not completed.
People
Partners lead the work
The partner who pitches is the partner who signs the report. We have no separate delivery tier.
Elin Haugen
Thirty years on grid connections. Chairs the technical review board.
Rasheed Okonjo
Programme forensics and expert witness work across four jurisdictions.
Margot Chen
Price control submissions and consenting strategy for regulated utilities.
Join the practice
Eleven roles open across grid engineering, regulatory and forensic planning.
Contact
Request a briefing
A partner will respond within one working day. We will tell you early if the mandate is not one we should take.