Pieter Claussen

Data Centres

• Advising Affinius Capital and Corscale Data Centres in connection with a 140MW hyperscale data centre in the Green Belt in Buckinghamshire. Pieter drafted the comprehensive statement of case for the planning appeal, which was recovered by the Secretary of State as a seminal case for the sector and granted in December 2024.
• Advising Ark in connection with the acquisition and refinancing of various data centre sites across the UK, to include providing strategic advice throughout the planning application process, as well as negotiating the associated planning agreements.
• Advising Colt in connection with its ongoing hyperscale development of a data centre campus at Hayes Bridge, Hillingdon.
• Advising CyrusOne in connection with its London 6 and London 7 hyperscale data centre developments in Buckinghamshire and Ealing respectively, and providing strategic advice across a number of data centre sites in the UK and Europe, as well as negotiating the associated planning obligations.
• Advising Drax on the potential delivery of a significant data centre campus with on-site power generation, working with Drax’s planning consultants to formulate the strategy for securing a commercially attractive planning permission.
• Advising Global Switch in connection with its data centre campus at East India Docks, London. Pieter has provided strategic advice on this site for a number of years, negotiating complex planning obligations and infrastructure agreements with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, including in respect of a third data centre which will add a further 40MVA of capacity. Pieter is currently advising on an appeal against, and potential judicial review of, a significant Community Infrastructure Levy charge imposed by the Council.
• Advising IM Properties on the promotion through the planning system of a mixed use development in the Green Belt in Bedfordshire, to deliver a circa 180MW data centre together with 1m sq. ft. of new logistics space and an extension to an adjoining motorway service area on the M1.

Development and Regeneration

• Advising the Far East Consortium on all planning related matters in connection with its development of Alpha Square, London. This development comprises two tall residential towers as well as a new public square, a primary school, health centre, five-star hotel and public house. Pieter advised on several minor material amendments to the planning permission, together with the necessary variations to the original planning obligation, and on the Community Infrastructure Levy associated with the development.
• Advising LaSalle and Citygrove on numerous aspects of their development at 60 London Wall, to include drafting and negotiating the planning obligation and highways agreement associated with the development, as well as advising in respect of an oversail licence and a stopping up order.
• Advising Norfolk Homes in connection with numerous sites, including the drafting and negotiation of planning obligations for residential-led schemes. This work included the promotion of an 1,800 dwelling urban extension to the village of Long Stratton in Norfolk, including the delivery of a bypass on the A140, which has since been granted planning permission.
• Advising MBU Capital in connection with its successful appeal against Camden Council for the delivery of a PBSA development site in central London, to include reviewing the application documents to ensure they were robust and would stand up to scrutiny in a planning appeal context. Pieter was also responsible for drafting and negotiating the section 106 obligation, which was heavily debated during the inquiry and resulted in a favourable decision for developers across the country.
• Advising Pigeon Land Limited in connection with multiple sites across the UK, to include:
  • drafting and negotiating various section 106 agreements, predominantly for residential-led mixed use schemes.
  • advising on, and managing various planning appeals, to include the preparation and submission of statements of case.
• Advising Mace on a number of projects, including its planning applications for major student accommodation schemes in both Exeter and Cardiff, to include providing strategic advice throughout the application stage, as well as the drafting and negotiation of complex planning obligations and infrastructure agreements
• Advising This is Gravity in connection with its Local Development Order and the ongoing development of the Gravity Smart Campus.
• Advising Mileway/Blackstone/Roebuck in connection with the assembly of its industrial outdoor storage (IOS) “Outback” portfolio, including site selection, acquisition and post-acquisition asset development and management.
• Advising Prologis UK Limited in connection with its outline planning application to deliver strategic logistics development within the EMAGIC Freeport at East Midlands Airport, forming part of the Government-designated East Midlands Freeport programme.
• Advising Tata and Jaguar Land Rover in connection with the acquisition of the Gravity Smart Campus in Bridgwater, Somerset, to facilitate the delivery of the UK’s largest electric vehicle battery gigafactory, including advising on the local development order and related planning obligation arrangements.

Infrastructure and Transport

• Advising HS2 Limited on a wide range of matters in connection with the high speed rail network between London, the West Midlands and further north to Crewe, including strategic planning and compulsory purchase / compensation advice. Pieter's involvement included:
  • advising on the compulsory purchase of land to facilitate the relocation of football pitches and a waste incineration plant;
  • successfully advising on and representing HS2 in multiple planning appeals under Schedule 17 of the HS2 Act. These appeals focused on new law which had not previously been tested, and the team succeeded in all of its appeals against decisions of differing local planning authorities, which were critical for the delivery of phase one;
  • successfully advising on and representing HS2 on their first judicial review under Schedule 17 of the HS2 Act;
  • negotiating land rights with electricity undertakers in order to energise the railway;
  • drafting and negotiating a Protective Provisions Agreement to protect the necessary land rights required for the HS2 project in the context of an application for a development consent order made by Highways England; and
  • advising on four related high-value claims in the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) for Certificates of Appropriate Alternative Development which were granted to landowners as a result of the scheme.
• Advising Prologis UK Limited in objecting to SEGRO’s competing Development Consent Order application under the Planning Act 2008, which seeks the compulsory acquisition of land controlled by Prologis. Pieter advises on planning strategy, the interaction between the Town and Country Planning Act and DCO regimes, compulsory purchase, land-use sterilisation and compensation risk.