Polish govt hands Linklaters Euro 2012 stadium construction gig

Linklaters has scored the lead role advising the Polish government on the construction of a new national football stadium as the venue for the opening match of the Uefa European 2012 Football Championship, which is being
co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

The government started the tender process to find a construction company to build the stadium last week, with six consortia in the running for the contract.
Artur Kulawski, partner and head of the Polish real estate ;department, ;is ­leading on the deal along with associate RafaB Zboch.

Kuwalski said: “We do act for the Polish government from time to time, but ­basically they came to us for this one. We’re one of the few big law firms in Poland with some experience of working on stadium deals.”

In the past Linklaters has handled the legal side of construction work for ­Polish football club Legia Warsaw.

The national stadium contract talks are in their third stage, with the final bids yet to come in from all the consortia.

Linklaters also acted for the government on the first stage, which saw the state negotiate with the architects of the stadium. The firm has also already drafted a ­construction contract for the stadium, with work set to start this year.