Never before has the protection of the environment and the better utilisation of water resources been the subject of such close scrutiny at every level of Government. The impact upon industry has been enormous.  Environmental and planning considerations are now at the heart of many business transactions.

Our Environment & Planning team ensures our clients, both public and private sector, meet their legal responsibilities whilst also achieving their objectives. Our team consists of lawyers from across our property, commercial, financial services, construction and infrastructure and dispute resolution teams – which means we can provide comprehensive legal advice on all environmental and planning aspects of your project. We have a particular focus on major infrastructure and development projects.

We have a strong record in unravelling the complex regulatory overlay, providing cost-effective solutions and partnering with our clients to implement successful strategies to achieve their goals.  We work closely with our specialist government team, so we understand how governments operate.  This allows us to expedite matters for our clients, in what can be a particularly time consuming and complex area of law.

Our clients include environmental consultants, manufacturing and service industries, developers and property owners, financial institutions, major infrastructure providers, government, statutory authorities, water consultants, engineers, agribusiness, property developers, construction companies, financial institutions, energy and resources corporations.

Key Services

We advise on all environmental and planning aspects of our clients’ transactions including:

• Environmental Compliance, audits and due diligence
• Contaminated land issues, including preparation of remediation works contracts and consultancy agreements
• Environmental licences and permits – court applications and advice
• Strategic advice in emergency response situations
• Environmental investigations and due diligence advice
• Pollution incidents and investigations
• Water issues – licensing, allocation and transfer rights
• Commercialisation of environmental products
• Civil enforcement
• Defence of environmental prosecutions
• Native vegetation clearance
• Heritage issues
• Native title advice
• Approvals, assessment and land access
• Land and infrastructure development
• Planning and project approvals
• Environmental licensing, permits and authorisations
• Land valuation and acquisition
• Contract drafting and negotiation
• Environmental and planning litigation and dispute resolution
• Development approvals and developer contributions
• Specialist tax advice on water licences, allocations and environmental issues.