Projects/PFI Team of the Year

2nd place: White & Case
3rd place: Trowers & Hamlins
Shortlisted: Allen & Overy, Baker & McKenzie, Clifford Chance
The winner of the Projects/PFI Team of the Year Award, sponsored by Taylor Root, is Norton Rose. The firm's involvement, led in both instances by partner Jeff Barratt, in the massive Taweelah A1 power project and the Geita gold-mining project clinched its win in this category.
In the largest power project financing to have reached financial close in the Middle East to date, Norton Rose acted for the lead arrangers on the $1.015bn (£717.9m) debt financing of the Taweelah A1 Power Generation and Sea Water Desalination Project in Abu Dhabi. The team required great ingenuity to find its way around the problem of acquiring the existing assets of the previous owners, Bainounah Power Company. And in one of the fastest project financing deals ever in sub-Saharan Africa, Norton Rose had just four months to finalise the Geita project. If this was not enough, the team also had to resolve a dilemma over gold hedging contracts. Closely managed and decisively executed project financings have given Norton Rose the edge over its competitors and led to a well-deserved victory.
Second place goes to White & Case for its assured handling of Turkey's largest independent power project. Calling on expertise from offices as far afield as Singapore, the White & Case team, led by Peter Finlay, was able to respond to the inevitable difficulties thrown up during the course of its two-and-a-half-year involvement in the project.
Trowers & Hamlins has been awarded third place for its original spin on the traditional submission. In an effort to reorganise the projects process, a Trowers team, led by David Mosey, has taken the initiative on construction contract reform. The pioneering PPC2000 is a single multi-party contract governing the entire project team and procurement process. PPC2000 has taken the construction world by storm, with over 4,000 copies sold since publication. Following formal approval from organisations such as the Local Government Taskforce, the Housing Forum and the Construction Industry Council, it has been used on projects with a combined value of more than £1bn.