Australian businesses prepare for the new privacy regime
One of Australia’s leading real estate lawyers, Cameron Charlton heads Minter Ellison's Real Estate Division. He brings more than 20 years’ experience to his diverse property practice with a focus on major projects and development.
Known for his commercial and pragmatic approach, Cameron has been the principal legal adviser on some of the State's most significant land development and urban renewal projects. His portfolio includes transit-oriented development, staged and mixed-use development, major waterfront projects and master planned communities.
He has a comprehensive understanding of Government process, acting for the Queensland Government in the delivery of cruise terminals, convention centres, sports facilities and hospitals and in the sale and privatisation of State owned airports and a major seaport.
Cameron also regularly acts for large publicly listed property companies, private development groups, property portfolio owners and managers on a broad range of projects and transactions across all asset classes.
Some long-standing clients include Brookfield Multiplex, Grosvenor Australia, Laing O'Rourke, Queensland Government, Singtel Optus, and The Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland.
Named as a leading individual in his field in both Chambers Global and Asia Pacific Legal 500, Cameron’s expertise is recognised through varied industry roles within the Property Council of Australia, Urban Development Institute of Australia and the Brisbane Development Association.
Areas of expertise include:
A leading real estate, projects and development lawyer, Cameron regularly advises clients in the energy and resources sector. He acted for Comalco in the expansion of its wharf facilities at Weipa; for Enertrade in securing land tenures including leases, licences and easements for its North Queensland gas pipeline; and for Powerlink and Energex separately in preparing and negotiating joint venture documents for the use of power assets for telecommunications purposes. He is presently assisting the Queensland Government with the 'gas superhighway' gas pipeline project, where gas will be brought from the Callide/Calliope Ranges to LNG plants on Curtis Island in Gladstone.
In addition to his major projects and development practice, Cameron deals widely in large-scale leasing. For many years he has acted for Singtel Optus in the rollout of its mobile telecommunications network in Queensland. This has involved negotiating hundreds of leases, licences and easements to provide tenure for Optus towers and in-building telecommunication facilities.
Cameron also oversees a large retail leasing practice for some of Australia's leading shopping centre owners, including Colonial First State Global Asset Management and Centro Properties Group. The practice has made a heavy investment in leading technology to ensure rapid information exchange and efficient workflow management and document production.
Cameron also acts for major commercial tenants in negotiating Agreements for Lease for new purpose-built premises. For example, he acted for ENERGEX on the lease and purpose-built fit-out of its new 6 Green Star corporate headquarters at Newstead.
A leading major projects specialist and skilled negotiator, Cameron has been at the forefront of some of Queensland's most significant public and private property development projects. He has extensive experience across greenfield master planned communities and resorts, urban renewal, waterfront projects, transit-oriented development and the construction of commercial buildings and special-purpose facilities.
Cameron has expert standing in drafting and negotiating complex project development agreements and related documents. His expertise encompasses public-private sector development partnerships under diverse procurement and delivery models, including appointing master developers through an Expression of Interest and RFDP process, as well as packaging and sale of ‘super’ lots to the private sector with government performing the role of master developer.
Recent landmark projects include the proposed $3 billion redevelopment of Brisbane’s RNA Showgrounds and Waterbank, a flagship river’s edge CBD development in Perth.
Cameron has acted for some of Australia's largest institutional and foreign investors in the sale and purchase of property in all asset classes, including commercial office buildings, shopping centres and residential estates. He played a lead role in the Queensland Government's A$1.1billion divestment of Cairns and Mackay airports and its A$2.3 billion divestment of the Port of Brisbane. In addition to handling the real property aspects of each sale via a long-term lease structure, Cameron was involved in vendor due diligence and setting up an online data room.
A leading projects lawyer, Cameron has a special interest in transit-oriented development. He has first hand understanding of TOD principles and desired TOD outcomes and is a regular commentator on the topic. Cameron participated in the Urban Development Institute of Australia's 2010 USA study tour of TODs, and is currently involved in three major TOD projects in South East Queensland.