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Articles by Ian Mack
NSIP Newsletter - September 2026 Issue
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP are most popular: within Cannabis & Hemp, Accounting and Audit and Insolvency/Bankruptcy/Re-Structuring topic(s) The September 2026 edition of HSF Kramer's NSIP newsletter is now available. This installment of the newsletter ushers in our new approach to covering the most interesting and topical events within the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects ("NSIPs") world.
Deep Dive: Lessons From The Gatwick Airport Judicial Review Claims
KL Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP More Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer is a world-leading global law firm, where our ambition is to help you achieve your goals. Exceptional client service and the pursuit of excellence are at our core. We invest in and care about our client relationships, which is why so many are longstanding. We enjoy breaking new ground, as we have for over 170 years. As a fully integrated transatlantic and transpacific firm, we are where you need us to be.
Section 35B Of The Planning Act 2008 – The “opt-out” Power
KL Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP More Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer is a world-leading global law firm, where our ambition is to help you achieve your goals. Exceptional client service and the pursuit of excellence are at our core. We invest in and care about our client relationships, which is why so many are longstanding. We enjoy breaking new ground, as we have for over 170 years. As a fully integrated transatlantic and transpacific firm, we are where you need us to be.
NSIP Newsletter - May 2026 Issue
KL Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP More Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer is a world-leading global law firm, where our ambition is to help you achieve your goals. Exceptional client service and the pursuit of excellence are at our core. We invest in and care about our client relationships, which is why so many are longstanding. We enjoy breaking new ground, as we have for over 170 years. As a fully integrated transatlantic and transpacific firm, we are where you need us to be.
Monthly NSIP Newsletter - February 2026 Issue
KL Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP More Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer is a world-leading global law firm, where our ambition is to help you achieve your goals. Exceptional client service and the pursuit of excellence are at our core. We invest in and care about our client relationships, which is why so many are longstanding. We enjoy breaking new ground, as we have for over 170 years. As a fully integrated transatlantic and transpacific firm, we are where you need us to be.
A&O Shearman guides CVC DIF on its sale of American Roads
A&O Shearman advised CVC DIF on the sale of American Roads, a leading owner and operator of tolled transportation facilities, whose portfolio includes the American-side concession of the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel and three toll bridges in Alabama, serving approximately seven million trips annually. The transaction was announced on February 13 and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026.
Monthly NSIP Newsletter - 2026 New Year Issue
KL Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP More Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer is a world-leading global law firm, where our ambition is to help you achieve your goals. Exceptional client service and the pursuit of excellence are at our core. We invest in and care about our client relationships, which is why so many are longstanding. We enjoy breaking new ground, as we have for over 170 years. As a fully integrated transatlantic and transpacific firm, we are where you need us to be.
AI Growth Zones In The UK To Promote AI Data Centre Investment
KL Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP More Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer is a world-leading global law firm, where our ambition is to help you achieve your goals. Exceptional client service and the pursuit of excellence are at our core. We invest in and care about our client relationships, which is why so many are longstanding. We enjoy breaking new ground, as we have for over 170 years. As a fully integrated transatlantic and transpacific firm, we are where you need us to be.
Risk Dynamics In Democratic Military Procurement
Let’s start with two questions: • Would a general contractor ever give you a believable firm price to build a house to a yet-to-be-developed set of requirements, on an identified mountain hilltop in the Rockies and to be delivered 10 years from now? • When you buy a new car with a three-year warranty that turns out to be a lemon, which party is most at risk? Some would say that the first one would never happen, and that the auto manufacturer takes all the risk in the second scenario.
Monthly NSIP Newsletter - September 2025 Issue
KL Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP More Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer is a world-leading global law firm, where our ambition is to help you achieve your goals. Exceptional client service and the pursuit of excellence are at our core. We invest in and care about our client relationships, which is why so many are longstanding. We enjoy breaking new ground, as we have for over 170 years. As a fully integrated transatlantic and transpacific firm, we are where you need us to be.
The devil is always in the details
Recently, the Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic released a report calling for fundamental change in the procurement system. He offered five recommendations: The establishment of a federal Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) to ensure effective oversight. The creation of a government-wide vendor performance management (VPM) system to enhance supplier accountability.
Equitable empowerment and cross-functional collaboration in military procurement
Have you ever had a task where you perceive – or you actually have – no control? How does it affect what you would normally consider an appropriate and ethical response from you and others on any team? This note could be taken to suggest that what is described below occurred in every case. The truth is far from it. However, it occurred often enough to be a major concern from my perspective, if (I stress ‘if’) it is still the case.
Complexity debt in defence procurement: Why simplifying the maze starts with rethinking risk
I recently became aware of the term ‘complexity debt’ in an article from the Kellogg School of Management. It is a simple concept of particular value to those with a financial background – a group which will apparently exceed those pursuing law degrees in the future. It can be seen as the debt that is owed and must be paid by those who must navigate complexity to execute an activity that is complex. Some of the complexity is unavoidable, but much is built in over time.
Monthly NSIP Newsletter - Summer 2025 Issue
This update highlights what we consider to be the most interesting and topical events from 1 July – 22 August 2025 within the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects ("NSIP") world, together with our opinions on key issues that matter to our clients. Summary Between 1 July – 22 August 2025, Development Consent Orders ("DCOs") were granted for the Mona Offshore Wind Farm and the Byers Gill Solar Farm projects.
Life Cycle Costing of Canadian Military Assets
In October 2022, Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) generated a report that assessed the life cycle cost estimate (LCCE) at $306 billion Cdn for 15 River Class destroyers being acquired under the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) project. One media report dubbed it “more torpedoes” of the project and quoted a former procurement chief of the Department of National Defence as saying the project was “out of control”. But does an LCCE justify such claims?
Clean Power 2030: What's the Plan? Strategic Planning of GB's Future Energy System
Impact on planning processes Within the 'Objectives' to the SSEP's commission, the Government notes their ultimate intention for the SSEP "to become part of the framework of planning systems across GB". Implicitly, the same is likely to be true for the CSNP, given that the SSEP will directly feed into and inform the production of the CSNP.
Project Nutcracker: Wishful thinking by Government on "strategic compensation" proposals and Nature Recovery Fund
In my recent Nutcracker "Bat shed crazy: can Starmer really bulldoze the environmental blockers to growth?" I explained why the Habitats Regulations are a particular challenge for developers and Starmer's pro-growth Government. I mentioned the "Planning Reform Working Paper on Development and Nature Recovery" recently published jointly by MHCLG and DEFRA. It seems to me that the Working Paper deserves a deeper-dive.
Project Nutcracker: Bat shed crazy - can Starmer really bulldoze the environmental blockers to growth?
If Donald Trump and Keir Starmer are looking for a topic of conversation to bond over when they next speak, I have one for them: the regulatory bureaucracy holding back growth. This speech by Trump in January 2020, could be made almost word for word by Starmer, Reeves or Miliband today. In his last presidency Trump was frustrated by the failure of civil servants to implement his demands for more radical reform of environmental protections.
Let’s Celebrate Project Management in Military Procurement
7 November is this year’s International Project Management Day (the first Thursday in November annually). It is not a day much highlighted within Canada, yet their construction associations alone suggest there are over 450 major projects underway at this time. The Project Management Institute (PMI) estimate the there are between 8 million and 11 million project managers (PM’s) in North America, and Canada projects growth by an additional 90,000 in the next 5 years.
Monthly Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Newsletter- September 2024 issue
Monthly Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Newsletter September 2024 issue 2 OCTOBER 2024 This newsletter highlights what we consider to be the most interesting and topical events during the past month within the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects ("NSIP") world, together with our opinions on key issues that matter to our clients.
Monthly Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Newsletter- June/July 2024 issue
Monthly Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Newsletter June/July 2024 issue 5 AUGUST 2024 This newsletter highlights what we consider to be the most interesting and topical events during the past two months within the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects ("NSIP") world, together with our opinions on key issues that matter to our clients.
Monthly Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Newsletter - March 2024 issue
Monthly Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Newsletter March 2024 issue 26 MARCH 2024 This update highlights what we consider to be the most interesting and topical events during the past month within the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects "NSIP" world, together with our opinions on key issues that matter to our clients.
Energy And Infrastructure Consenting Notes – New HSF UK Infrastructure Planning Blog - Construction & Planning - UK
The London planning team at Herbert Smith Freehills has a new blog called Energy and Infrastructure Consenting Notes, focused on infrastructure planning in the UK. The team has promoted some of the biggest and most high-profile nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) applications to go through the Planning Act 2008 process, from the Hinkley Point and Sizewell new nuclear power stations to the expansion of Gatwick Airport and the Aquind Interconnector between the UK and France.
Military Procurement Innovation Now
Image credit: Image: Cpl Pierre Habib, Forces armées canadiennes COMMENTARY by Ian Mack CGAI Fellow June 2022 DOWNLOAD PDF Table of Contents Introduction Why Procure Differently? Immeasurably Different Times Call for Immeasurably Different Procurement Solutions What Next?
Monthly Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Update – January 2022 - Government, Public Sector - UK
UK: Monthly Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Update – January 2022 03 February 2022 by Catherine Howard , Charlotte Dyer , Ian Mack and Fiona Sawyer Herbert Smith Freehills To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.
Monthly Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Update
UK: Monthly Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Update 03 February 2022 by Catherine Howard , Charlotte Dyer , Ian Mack and Fiona Sawyer Herbert Smith Freehills To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com. The London planning team at Herbert Smith Freehills has been heavily involved in the infrastructure planning world for many years.
Emerging Lessons from the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy
Image credit: Canadian Defence Review POLICY PERSPECTIVE by Ian Mack March 2019 DOWNLOAD PDF Table of Contents Introduction Why was NSPS Launched with Such Urgency? Could Schedule Delays to Projects Underway Have Been Avoided? Was the Governance of the Shipyard Selection Competition Effective? Should It Have Been Mandatory for Shipyards to Lead the Bids? Where was the Clarity Regarding NSPS Deliverables? Why Did New Shipyard Facilities Take so Long to be Delivered?
A Basic Primer on Naval Shipbuilding
Image credit: Irving Shipbuilding POLICY UPDATE by Ian Mack February 2018 DOWNLOAD PDF Table of Contents Introduction Oversight Cost Estimation Procurement Strategies Contracting Schedule So What End Notes About the Author Canadian Global Affairs Institute Introduction The National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) is consistent with the “Build in Canada” shipbuilding policy, which when fully implemented will deliver ships for the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard, employing two...
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