Sharpe Pritchard LLP is recognised for its pioneering work in the public sector setting, supporting both local and national governments with achieving green targets and in the path to net zero.

In London, the project and property teams have supported several boroughs in the rollout of electric vehicle charging point schemes with varying levels of public sector subsidy and driving private sector investment and demand. This includes work with Source London, Street Charging and Rapid Charge Points. For Cambridgeshire County Council, regulated projects and infrastructure expert Steve Gummer advised on the Swaffham Prior district heating scheme, which completely replaces the use of oil for heat and hot water with renewable sources. This represents the UK’s first major retrofit heating residential arrangement.

The firm’s involvement in some of the UK’s largest sustainability-linked infrastructure projects also includes its recent counsel to Portsmouth Water on the Havant Thicket Reservoir. The environmentally-led scheme will secure water supplies for the future, while protecting rare and renowned chalk streams.

Outside of its sustainability-related work portfolio, the firm has committed to achieving a net zero office by 2025 and launched its Green Goals campaign in 2022 to shine light on the ways in which public bodies can tackle environmental destruction and the climate crisis. Of note is Steve Gummer and environmental consultant Steve Cirrell’s collaboration ‘Green Steves’, which provides both legal advice and environmental consultancy for public bodies around these issues and is a space for local authorities to share best practices.