Sharpe Pritchard advised Cambridgeshire County Council on its £730 million waste PFI project which reached financial close on 11th March 2008.

The 28 year project, won by Donarbon Waste Management Limited is for a new Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) facility and IVC facility at Donarbon’s Waterbeach site in Cambridgeshire. Donarbon will also manage the waste transfer station and Recycling Centre infrastructure across the County and provide an education centre at its Waterbeach site.

Sharpe Pritchard’s team advising the County Council was led by Roseanne Serrelli and Nicola Sumner (Projects) assisted by Brian Yates (Company and Commercial) and John Sharland (Employment). Sharpe Pritchard’s property team was led by Jo Pickering (Commercial Property) assisted by Gemma Wyke.

Commenting on the deal, Roseanne Serrelli said, "We are really pleased to have closed another major deal in this sector and look forward to applying the experience gained on the Cambridgeshire project to our other waste projects acting for Norfolk, Buckinghamshire, Suffolk and Leicestershire. Our team has worked closely throughout the project with the County Council's in-house legal services team (led by Tim Farr, Head of Legal Services) under a partnering arrangement which we believe has delivered real benefits to the project."

Nicky Sumner said, "this project has benefited from our experience of closing Nottinghamshire’s Waste PFI in 2006 and has been a high quality project where all parties have worked positively and productively."

Tim Farr said, "Cambridgeshire is a leading authority in waste management. We wanted to ensure that our Waste PFI scheme retained that innovation. The Sharpe Pritchard team was the perfect partners for us in that they matched our ambition and complemented the in-house resource to create a dynamic virtual team."

Pinsent Masons acted for Donarbon Waste Management Limited. Mills and Reeve acted for Donarbon Limited. Ashurst acted for Bank of Ireland.