Anderson Strathern advises Crown Estate Scotland on wind leasing projects

Crown Estate Scotland is a public corporation which invests in property, natural resources, and people to create lasting value for Scotland. It manages seabed, coastline, rural estates and more, helping ensure businesses and communities benefit from the assets which make up the Scottish Crown Estate. Anderson Strathern was reappointed as legal adviser to Crown Estate Scotland in 2021.

The firm advised Crown Estate Scotland on a range of issues as part of the ScotWind leasing process. These included consenting, process structure, procurement and competition matters, drafting of tender documents, and project documentation. The delivery of the 17 option agreements was completed in less than three months, with the project involving specialists from across the firm – in clean energy, marine real estate, planning, procurement, competition law, litigation, and corporate.

Gavin Thain, a partner in Anderson Strathern’s clean energy team, said: “As a longstanding adviser to Crown Estate Scotland, we were able to deploy informed specialists across the firm to work on what was a complex project with a short timetable. We’re pleased to see ScotWind progressing well and look forward to continuing to support Crown Estate Scotland in the months and years ahead on what is a vitally important step towards achieving net-zero.”

Colin Maciver, head of offshore wind for Crown Estate Scotland, said: “Seven-teen agreements are now in place to help deliver these offshore wind projects that are central to Scotland’s efforts to tackle the climate emergency, secure the UK’s energy supply, and generate billions of pounds of investment in Scotland. This is an early but critical step towards having turbines in the water ready to generate clean energy.”