Hayley Steel

Hayley is a Partner within the construction team, with a focus on non-contentious construction, development and infrastructure/energy projects. She has a breadth of experience in acting on construction and engineering projects for a range of clients, acting on behalf of owners, developers, funders, investment vehicles, government bodies, contractors and commercial end users.

Hayley has experience acting on a wide portfolio of projects, including mixed-use schemes, commercial developments, residential developments, port developments with supporting infrastructure, power plant, wind and solar renewable energy projects, hotels, retail developments, data centres and student accommodation. She has an in-depth knowledge of a variety of industry forms of contract, including the JCT, NEC and FIDIC forms and is skilled in drafting bespoke contracts and professional appointments.

Hayley joined Clarke Willmott in 2018 after over a decade spent within the non-contentious construction team in the London office of leading international law firm Reed Smith, where she gained extensive domestic and international experience. She was also recognised as a Rising Star by the 2015 London Super Lawyers List for Construction and Civil Engineering.

Experience

• Advising on a number of strategic and contractual arrangements (NEC3) relating to the supply of various tiers of works/services at Hinkley Point C.
• Acting for a large German international nuclear contractor in the negotiation and finalisation of settlement and contract variation terms for a large-scale project involving decommissioning works at a nuclear power station in Lithuania, working in conjunction with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
• Acting for an established developer in relation to a substantial £400 million mixed-use development of a 23 hectare site in Yorkshire. The scheme involves the creation of 1,000 new homes and 300,000 sq ft of office space in a mixed-use community, including shops, restaurants, a gym and other facilities. It also involves the construction of a new railway station,access road and related infrastructure. Advising the client through the procurement strategy stage and successfully negotiating the first of a series of multi-million pound building contract packages representing the first phase of the development.
• Advising a major UK pension fund on numerous construction projects, including commercial, mixed-use and residential schemes. For example, drafting and negotiating the building contract, consultant appointments and ancillary documentation (including a Pre-Construction Services Agreement) for a £30 million development in a South West city centre location, (involving the construction of an 11-storey student accommodation scheme) as part of a wider regeneration project.
• Advising a leading European real estate investor on construction projects (including the re-development of multi-occupied commercial premises in Manchester) as well as in relation to broader instructions, including advising on the construction due diligence elements of a potential £1 billion sale of a large property portfolio.
• Advising a global data centre owner/operator in relation to construction contracts for construction and engineering projects worldwide and drafting and negotiating bespoke commercial agreements in relation to the operation of data centres when completed, including in relation to facilities maintenance and security services provided under a global framework arrangement.
• Advising an African client with global port and infrastructure operations, to review tender bids and draft and negotiate design, engineering, construction and supply contracts for a range of projects worldwide, including new port developments in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Timor, Southeast Asia.