Land advisory paves the way for two nuclear power station projects

Powering Britain

EDF Energy are building two new 3.2GW nuclear power stations being built in the UK, which are vital for Britain’s energy security: EDF’s Hinkley Point C project in Somerset and Sizewell C, now majority owned by the government, on the Suffolk coast. Work at Sizewell C is well underway, after formally beginning the construction phase in 2024, while construction at Hinkley Point C in Somerset started in 2018. Both are a new generation of nuclear power plants that will generate enough low carbon electricity to power around 12M homes in the UK. 

Mott MacDonald’s land advisory team was appointed by EDF Energy in the early stages of planning for both projects and has provided support throughout the consenting process, additional resource, and expertise.  

Essential involvement of our land consultancy team

Mott MacDonald was appointed to advise both post-application management for Hinkley Point C’s development consent order (DCO) and pre-application due diligence for Sizewell C’s DCO, advising on the land programme, acquisition, landowner engagement management, connection agreements and managing referencing teams.  

Since Sizewell C’s DCO was triggered in 2024, Mott MacDonald have continued to offer land management expertise through secondments and have become a trusted advisor. 

Our work on Sizewell C has included using our expertise and knowledge to manage and review the land advisory supplier’s deliverables and setting up a robust land referencing and access methodology. We have also supported the land acquisition process for the associated development land and commercial property in line with internal governance and legal obligations.  

On Hinkley Point C we were engaged to provide additional resources to help manage the acquisition of land for development of facilities including commercial buildings and sites to be used for accommodation.  

Mott MacDonald’s contribution was also integral in the tri-party connection agreement between Hinkley Point B, National Grid, and Hinkley Point C. This agreement was critical to connecting the new nuclear power plant to the National power grid.  

In addition, Mott MacDonald was also responsible for:  

• Acquisition, management, and disposal of a property portfolio associated with the construction and operation of the power stations
• Formulating a strategy to facilitate and implement land access to properties for vital engineering and environmental surveys within a short period of time. This included the introduction of a new standard format access agreement to reduce overall cost liability and regulate payments
• Extensive stakeholder management with daily liaison and negotiation with landowners, land agents, local authorities, and solicitors to explain processes and provide information
• Co-ordinating and managing survey requests from delivery teams in line with set programmes and in accordance with SZC’s internal land access protocol
• Monthly reporting on key performance indicators and land acquisition status to keep track of progress and identify key areas of risk
• Working with utility teams to facilitate a governed process which enables utility land rights to be granted and diversions enabled
• Dealing with different types of acquisition and agreements including licences, leases and compulsory acquisition
• Overseeing compensation claims, monitoring task orders, and facilitating fund transfers
• Project management and controls, programme management and budget control to ensure the projects are being delivered on time
• Collaborating with the environmental, design and engineering in-house team and professional service consultants working on the scheme to meet quality targets
• Engaging with the local community and residents to monitor and control noise from construction and material movement

Achieving key milestones and decarbonising electricity supplies

Mott MacDonald has worked closely with Sizewell C and its contractors following the planning examination to support with land identification and management for elements of the scheme achieving some key wins such as:

• Introducing a new access agreement format for Sizewell C, which significantly reduced client costs
• Providing quality assurance of the land referencing process
• Refreshing the book of reference and land plans for Sizewell C ensuring all affected parties were identified and included
• Collaborating with design and engineering colleagues to review design to avoid unnecessary impact to landowners
• Managing professional advisors including solicitors, property consultants and land referencers working on behalf of the client via secondments. This ensured they delivered on all their objectives within expected timeframes and budget to meet the project expectations

With both Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C now in the construction phase, Mott MacDonald has helped advance these projects which are critical to decarbonising electricity supplies in the UK. The schemes are also vital to the wider UK economy as the new power plants will create thousands of UK jobs.