McKenna sees Chunnel link deal to end of line

CITY practice McKenna & Co acted for the Department of Transport on the £2.7 billion Channel Tunnel Rail Link

(CTRL) contract, awarded last week to London & Continental Railways.

The firm was engaged by the department in December 1993 after beating off three other contenders.

It worked alongside consultants Hill Samuel Bank and G Maunsell & Partners in developing the competition for the building project and the train services.

This is not the first time McKennas, a specialist in the public works field, has been involved with a UK Government scheme and it will be bidding with other contenders to advise the DoT on the next step of the scheme.

Partner Robert Phillips said: "Within the firm we have developed a team built round a core group of four partners which has been able to cover all of the legal issues involved in a project as complex as CTRL."

Phillips described the project as highly complex and demanding close co-operation. "The team has had to frame the development of CTRL within the overall privatisation of the railway industry, create new concepts, address the real issues of Europe and yet be able to meet the private sector requirements for bankable deal."

The McKennas team for the deal included partners Nick Brown, Julian Ogley, Jonathan Beckitt, Peter Long and Andrew Ivison, working under Phillips.

Herbert Smith acted for London & Continental Railways, and Railtrack, also involved in the deal, was advised by its in-house lawyers and Simmons & Simmons.

CTRL is a mix of project development and privatisation and it is not intended for it to return to the public sector.