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Stewart is a partner in our Construction, Infrastructure and Engineering group. Working with some of Australia’s largest public and private organisations, Stewart has played a leading role in many of the nation’s most significant road, rail, transport, energy and resources, and health care infrastructure projects.
He specialises in drafting and negotiating complex engineering and infrastructure agreements for the government, transport and logistics, and other sectors. He has a particular focus on long term O&M contracts and Energy Performance Contracting.
Stewart is consistently recognised as a leader in his field with clients and peers highlighting his 'front-end skills' and declaring him to be 'as good as you get'. He was named by peers as 'Lawyer of the Year' (Construction, Melbourne) in Best Lawyers Australia 2013, and in Who's Who Legal as one of the world's leading practitioners in the fields of Construction and Public Procurement.
Chambers has ranked him as a leading lawyer (Band 1) in Construction each year from 2008 - 2014 for his work across the PPP, engineering and procurement space with the comment 'a great commercial negotiator who provides succinct, strategic advice.' and "one of the best in the business" (2014). Stewart was also recently named by clients as winner of the Client Choice Awards 2014 Projects & Procurement (Australia).
Acted for the Multiplex/Westpac consortium (Synersec) bidding for the design, construction, financing and maintenance of the multi-site Department of Defence Single Living Environment Accommodation Precinct Phase 1 PPP. This included the provision of 1,295 rooms at the Defence bases at Holsworthy in New South Wales and Enoggera and Amerbley in Queensland.
Advised Leighton Contractors on their shortlisted bid, as part of the Momentum Infrastructure consortium, for the operation and maintenance elements of the East West Link PPP project.
Acted for the winning consortium on the successfully closed Melbourne Convention Centre project, the largest proposed facility of this type in Australia with associated retail and commercial developments and public works. The A$1.2bn project includes a 5,000 seat convention centre, a five star Hilton hotel, office and residential tower, riverfront retail promenade and revitalised Maritime Museum.
Advised New South Wales Health Infrastructure on the design, construction and build of the Northern Beaches Hospital PPP Project using a clinical services outsourcing model, including procurement and financing structures, managing diverse stakeholder interests and NSW Government and NSW Health policy issues. The finalised RFT structure and documentation was endorsed by the NSW Government as a preferred core procurement methodology for hospitals in the State going forward.
Acting for the NSW Department of Housing and the Department of Finance & Services on the new NSW Social Housing PPP at Airds-Bradbury. This (approx) A$500 million project involves the renewal and revitalisation of a social housing estate with 1470 dwellings located in the Campbelltown local government area. As principal legal advisors to the NSW government on only the second project of its kind in Australia, this is one of the most complex infrastructure projects to be delivered under the PPP framework to date.
Acted for the Carewest consortium (Westpac/Abigroup/Honeywell/Medirest) on its bid for the Orange Hospital PPP project. We advised on all aspects of the consortium's bid to NSW Health on this project to finance, design, construct and facilities manage a new hospital in Orange, NSW.
Advising on the Victorian Government's key bus refranchising projects including: • The Melbourne Bus Service Project – refranchising of 30% of Melbourne's metropolitan bus services. Project Value is approximately AUD$1.5 billion • the $650m refranchising of Orbital SmartBus services throughout Metropolitan Melbourne • The Melbourne Bus Contract Project – $5bn bus service procurement, the Victorian Government's largest ever bus services procurement. These projects have involved: • redesigning the metropolitan bus service contract • renegotiating with existing operators to mitigate from the existing services agreement to new contracts • developing required amendments to bus service legislation in Victoria • implementing the contracts necessary to migrate including Invitation to Negotiate and Commitment Deeds • ancillary documentation required to preserve the State's rights in the event of default by the operator.
Advised Aspire Schools Consortium on its successful bid for the SEQLD schools PPP project to build and maintain seven schools over a number of years. This was the first PPP to utilise the Supported Debt Model where Queensland Treasury Corporation provided term debt which resulted in complex inter-creditor arrangements with construction and term debt providers. The transaction received the Euromoney Project Finance Asia Pacific PPP Deal of the Year.
Acted for the NSW Department of Transport & Infrastructure in the Sydney Ferries Market Review project. This was a high profile and politically sensitive project to implement the recommendations of the Walker report into the operation of Sydney Ferries.
Acted for Brookfield Multiplex Constructions Pty Ltd and Brookfield Multiplex Services Pty Ltd as Construction Contractor and Facilities Manager on the VeNuSW bid in relation to the Sydney International Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Centre PPP (SICEEP). The SICEEP project included the design, construction, operation and maintenance of new exhibition, convention and entertainment facilities at Darling Harbour as well as the design and construction of a new hotel, residential development and student accommodation. Work involved negotiating and documenting project documents, including the Project Deed, Project Delivery Agreement, Construction Contract Terms Sheet, Hotel Construction Contract Terms Sheet, Early Works Contract Terms Sheet, Facilities Management Contract Terms Sheet, Interface Agreement Terms Sheet and various other multipartite agreements.
