Legal work paving the way for the £172.3m regeneration and clean-up of a badly polluted, 100-hectare (250-acre) former coking plant known as the Avenue, was overseen by Midlands' law firm Harvey Ingram.

Transformation of the site, near Chesterfield in Derbyshire, is a huge, large-scale civil engineering project being led and managed by project sponsor, East Midlands Development Agency (emda), with funding through the Government's Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) through its National Coalfields Programme.

The Avenue represents the largest single scheme in the UK's National Coalfields Programme and is presently one of Western Europe's most heavily contaminated areas of land.

With the help of advice from a team of Harvey Ingram's specialist Construction & Engineering lawyers, the final £82m stage of the ambitious project clinched Government approval in June, with the clean up getting underway shortly.

From the outset Martin Jones, Partner and head of the firm's Construction & Engineering team, has overseen all legal matters - including compliance with all EU Procurement regulation, environmental and planning legislation, health and safety requirements and the appointments of the professional team together with contractor VSD Avenue, which will now tackle the substantial remediation and landscaping work.  

He says: "This is a hugely complex and very prestigious project. The levels of toxic contamination, scale of regeneration, sensitive wildlife safeguards, along with complex stakeholder and multi-party interests in the site, have continually demanded that our team be flexible and innovative in its approach. We are delighted to be involved in this flagship project and support emda in its vital aim of helping sustain the East Midlands as a flourishing region."

Mike Fenton, emda's Project Director for The Avenue, is responsible for overseeing the delivery of the five-year scheme - right through to its completion.

He says: "Harvey Ingram's timely advice and guidance on all legal matters has been an enormous help to ensure the project's progress continues to be on time and within budget.  Work is due to start on site very soon, and all partners involved in the project look forward to working with the local community to bring benefits from an improved area that will leave a lasting legacy for generations to come."