Mark Richards
Mark Richards
Mark Richards
Partner and Regional Practice Group Leader - Energy, Environment and Infrastructure
Biography
Mark is the EMEA Head of the Energy, Environment & Infrastructure Team with extensive experience in providing multi-disciplinary advice to public and private sector clients. Clients include Amber Infrastructure, 3i, Nord LB, Ingenious Renewable Energy and Barclays Bank.
He works on a wide range of high value, innovative and complex infrastructure projects and has been involved in some of the most high profile infrastructure deals, including the first PF2 transaction to close in the UK. Mark has particular experience in:
- equity (including secondary market trades);
- debt structures;
- infrastructure fund trades;
- leasing/structured finance; and
- concession based structures.
As a non-executive director and global council member of the International Project Finance Association, Mark regularly writes chairs and addresses audiences on Global PPP and infrastructure structures.
Areas of Focus
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Zero Emission Vehicles & Charging Infrastructure
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Mobile Source Emissions and Fleet Management
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Real Estate
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Finance
Client Story
Getting vertiport pioneer Skyports off the ground in Dubai
London based start-up Skyports Infrastructure has announced its pioneering ‘vertiport’ operations in Dubai in collaboration with Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) and electric air taxi provider, Joby Aviation.
- Chambers UK, Projects: PFI/PPP, 2021
- The Legal 500 UK, Infrastructure, 2021
Admissions
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England and Wales
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New York
Related Practice Areas
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Environment
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Real Estate
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Data Center & Digital Infrastructure Team
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ESG & Energy Transition
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Nuclear
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Renewables
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Water & Utilities
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Financial Institutions
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Zero Emission Vehicles & Charging Infrastructure
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Infrastructure
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Energy Transition
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Finance
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Public Sector
Experience
- Renewable Energy - Advised a client on various renewable energy portfolios, leading on the financing and acquisition of US$150m of ground mounted solar and onshore wind assets.
- Oil - Advised a national oil company on various financings including their USD$750m corporate facility and their various trade financing and commodities receivable transactions.
- Schools - Advised Amber Infrastructure on their successful bid in the £2.4bn government-backed ‘Priority Schools Building Programme’ using a unique financing model of a bespoke pooled aggregator funding vehicle. The deal was awarded European Social Infrastructure Deal of the Year at the IJGlobal Awards.
- Mersey Gateway Bridge - Advised 3i infrastructure on its investment into the Mersey Gateway Bridge, a public-private partnership project which involves the design, build, finance and operation of a 1km tolled bridge across the river Mersey in Liverpool.
- Hamina-Vaalimaa motorway - Advised the Finnish Transport Agency on the construction of the €660m E18 Hamina-Vaalimaa motorway to carried out on a Public-Private Partnership project model. The Finnish Transport Agency is seeking competitive tenders for service contracts, which include financial planning, building design, road construction, and road maintenance.
- UK Military Flight Training System - Advised UK Military Flight Training System (UKMFTS) leading the finance, equity and concession agreement negotiations on behalf of UKMFTS project team acting for the Ascent Consortium (Lockheed Martin Corporation and VT Group plc) in relation to the wholesale outsourcing of military flight training.
Related Insights
News
Nov 19, 2024
Nov 19, 2024
BCLP receives a second recognition in The Legal 500 Green Guide: UK 2025
Insights
Nov 11, 2024
Nov 11, 2024
Typical transaction documents in a (standalone) BESS project-financing
Further to our previous articles on the market and sources of revenue for (standalone) project-financed BESS projects, this article considers the core transaction documents making up a project-financed BESS project and the similarity between these and the transaction documents commonly used in other renewable energy projects. Whilst there are many commonalities with these other project-financed renewable energy projects, there are also key differences – in particular in respect of revenue contracts and the nature and terms of these.
Below we briefly consider the transaction documents that are broadly similar to other (project-financed) renewable energy projects, and we then go on to consider in greater detail the relevant differences.
Awards
Oct 17, 2024
Oct 17, 2024
Chambers 2025 UK guide ranks BCLP in 34 practice areas and recognises 74 individual lawyers
Insights
Oct 14, 2024
Oct 14, 2024
Battery storage revenues and routes to market
As covered briefly in our previous article, the “route to market” / offtake arrangements/ revenue contracts are perhaps the key difference between battery energy storage systems (BESS) projects and other project-financed renewable energy projects; often there is material exposure to market (or ‘merchant’) risk and this makes them arguably more challenging to project-finance for lenders. In this article, we discuss the nature of revenue in a (standalone) BESS project, how electricity storage providers “stack” these revenues and we briefly introduce the contractual structures that are used in connection with the route to market for BESS projects (which we will cover in greater detail in our next article).
News
Oct 02, 2024
Oct 02, 2024
The Legal 500 UK ranks BCLP in 52 practice areas and recognizes 69 lawyers as “leading individuals”
Insights
Sep 30, 2024
Sep 30, 2024
A short introduction to BESS projects in Great Britain
In a new series of articles we will explore:
what BESS is;
why it is needed/what drives investment in BESS;
key regulatory considerations for BESS;
the structure and financing of BESS projects;
the nature of revenues available to BESS projects, including revenue stacking and route to market agreements (RTMAs); and
the future development of BESS.
Awards
Aug 08, 2024
Aug 08, 2024
BCLP Shortlisted as Energy/ Infrastructure Team of the Year at 2024 Legal Business Awards
News
Mar 20, 2024
Mar 20, 2024
BCLP advises Skyports on global first passenger air taxi service launch
Insights
Mar 07, 2024
Mar 07, 2024
Recent changes to the special administration regime for water companies
The UK government recently introduced legislation implementing changes to the special administration regime for regulated water companies (“WISAR”). The changes are designed to modernise the WISAR and to better align it with the special administration regimes for other systemically important sectors like energy supplies and investment banks.
The updates are contained in The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 (Commencement No. 10) Order 2024, which became effective on 12 January 2024, and The Water Industry Act 1991 (Amendment) Order 2024 and The Water Industry (Special Administration) Regulations 2024, each of which came into effect on 22 February 2024.