Legal Advisor for Birmingham Smithfield Regeneration Project

Description

The Council requires legal advice that supported the procurement process for the Smithfield Regeneration Project and awarded a contract following a further competition exercise using the Crown Commercial Service Legal Services Framework Agreement in December 2016 for a 4 year period. The services were as follows: • Assistance in developing operational model options providing advice on the legal implications to the Council • Identify appropriate forms of development/investment partner contract/agreement(s) providing advice on the legal implications to the Council • Provide legal advice for general corporate matters including Company law, Joint Ventures, Taxation (including VAT) and Venture capital advice • Assist in drafting development/investment partner contract/agreement(s) • Assist in executing development/investment partner contract/agreement(s) • Provide legal advice on Property and Estates matters including Acquisitions and disposals (including relevant tax advice), Compulsory purchases, Leases, licences and conveyancing, Landlord and tenant matters, Site re-developments/ property development • Provide legal advice on General Commercial matters including Public Procurement, Contract advice or drafting, PPP/PFIs including project finance, Partnering/ alliance arrangements, Outsourcing/contracting out of services, Competition law, Regulatory law and Public infrastructure regulation Further legal advice and enhanced due diligence is needed to continue to efficiently and effectively deal with the complexities of the procurement to protect the Council's interests, maximise value for money and reduce the level of risk exposure for the process to the entering of the contract with the Development Partner. The additional complexities identified throughout the process were unforeseen, in particular due to the size and profile of the development. These additional services include: • Dealing with Land Registry enquiries, reviewing title deeds and preparing land registry applications. • Negotiating and finalising the Joint Venture Agreement, Site Assembly Agreement, form of Phase Development Agreement, [Phase] [Leases], and related ancillary documents Construction documents namely - JCT design & build contract, JCT design & build sub-contract, Construction Management Agreement, Trade Contract, Parent Company Guarantee, and a Performance Bond to formally appoint the Development/Investment Partner for Birmingham Smithfield. • Preparing a tailored EZ Funding Agreement to appropriately extend the Council's EZ capital funding obligations onto the Development Partner. Consequently, the project has proved to be more complex and is taking longer to finalise than originally envisaged. The recommended supplier has provided a satisfactory level of service to date and to ensure the continuity of the high quality legal advice it is vital for the successful delivery of this complex project. It would also eliminate the inherent unacceptable risk of inconsistent legal advice, duplication of costs, and significant delays to the project if the service were to be competitively procured resulting in a change to the supplier.