Talks by the fireside - a chat with Jo Holbrook, Of Counsel in the HSF Environment Team

In today's blog we hear from our environment team. Joanne Holbrook (Of Counsel, Environment) sat down for a winter fire side chat with Sophia Towers (Senior Business Development Manager, Real Estate).

ST: It's been 18 months since you joined us, and it feels like there's been a lot of change in the environment group since then. Tell us about your first 18 months.

JH: It's been great! We've seen really strong growth all round. The team has doubled in size and that additional capability has really helped to expand the  specialist advice we can now offer. HSF has always done a broad range of environmental work, helped by the strength of its leading infrastructure planning, global energy and ESG practices. But with our expansion this year we've been able to take on some really interesting new areas of work, including regulatory investigations, appeals, compliance advice (on some very bespoke issues), strategic planning and implementing sustainability goals.  

ST: How has this been done?

JH: There are several factors, but I think the three most significant ones are the addition of Julie Goulbourne (Senior Associate, Environment) to the team, the increased importance of environmental law and policy to our clients, and a unified and collaborative approach to environmental support for clients across the firm.

ST: Tell us more about Julie's arrival

JH: Julie joined us 12 months ago and she has definitely been a catalyst to our growth. Julie's title doesn't do her justice, she is a highly-experienced, very senior environmental lawyer, and formerly a prosecutor at the Environment Agency which is where we actually first met. On a personal note, it's great working with Julie again. We've known each other more than 20 years and have been colleagues twice before so it really feels like bringing the dream team back together. Her expertise and practice are a real compliment to mine and when we are working together that shared experience and value becomes obvious, clients see that and keep coming back.  

ST: You mention increased importance of environmental issues to our clients. Has that been a key theme in 2024?

JH: Yes. Environmental advice has changed in priority for our clients. What was once a "nice to have", value add type of service is now a key driver for many clients. Environmental advice in the real estate sector used to be pretty limited to contaminated land issues. Now, the sector is focussed on environmental performance of buildings and communities, resource efficiencies and a lot more ESG considerations.

ST: Any other significant themes you've seen in 2024?

JH: 2024 has been much more nature based than previous years. Not just because of the introduction of Biodiversity Net Gain for development and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD) recommendations (from a corporate reporting perspective), but more generally with businesses wanting to understand their environmental impacts, risks, and opportunities better. Advice tends to have the element of resilience and problem solving on how to adapt to changing policy and regulation. It is no longer a reactive discipline. It has become much more proactive for many of our clients – I sometimes refer to this as environmental optioneering because a big part of it is helping clients maximise and enhance environmental value.

ST: What are you expecting to see as key themes in 2025?

JH: Environmental law and policy has been an area of uncertainty for several years and next year will be no exception. This is probably where people expect me to raise issues like nutrient neutrality and water scarcity (and I will… there you go!) but energy efficiency and transition will still dominate across the real estate sector. Nature will continue to feature. The nature market is still in its infancy and will continue to mature over the medium term.

Also, watch out for PFAS, which has been on the radar for some time but is gaining traction now in the EU and UK, following US trends. There are anticipated regulatory changes affecting the use of substances bringing with it increased scrutiny and challenge risk. From a real estate perspective, dealing with legacy contamination issues could become a more prominent feature. Regulators are definitely gaining momentum on the issue but there is a lot still outstanding on best practice.

ST: And finally, what do you enjoy most about your role?

JH: The variety. No day is ever the same. The Environment isn't one thing. It is air, water, land, waste, chemicals, sustainability, ESG and more. The work is on transactions, projects, compliance, civil, criminal or public law actions, but its also about working with clients on their ambitions. It is cross-sector and cross-jurisdictional. How many other lawyers get to see such variety? It also means working with many different colleagues across the firm and since joining HSF, one of the best things for me has been HSF's global environmental network. It's great to bring together different jurisdictional perspectives on the same themes. This strong network and HSF's high calibre global clients, means that much of my work these days is to proactively provide solutions and navigate paths for clients to comply with ever evolving (often at speed) regulation and policy change – where guidance, interpretation and clarity doesn't always exist yet. That's exciting. I get to work with clients who want to shape the market not follow it.

ST: Thanks Jo. It's been a pleasure chatting with you!

To find out more about what the HSF Environment team can offer, contact us.

Come back tomorrow as we open the door on Day 17 of our 2024 Yule Blog and look at AI in real estate.