Hayley Steel

Hayley is an experienced transactional construction lawyer and leads Foot Anstey’s national Non-Contentious Construction team.

Hayley has extensive experience delivering a diverse portfolio of construction and engineering projects across Foot Anstey’s core sectors.

She specialises in working with developers and housebuilders, with a particular focus on the later living and retirement sectors, as well as delivering major infrastructure, clean energy, and nuclear projects.

She provides expert guidance to a variety of clients with differing stakeholder roles and risk profiles, on projects such as large energy and infrastructure developments, international data centres, commercial and mixed-use schemes, housing, and regeneration projects. Hayley is well-versed in both bespoke and standard form construction contracts, including the JCT, NEC and FIDIC forms.

Hayley also has considerable co-counsel experience, providing specialist construction support to external legal teams on a number of high value, high profile, complex asset-based transactions.

Hayley trained, qualified and spent over a decade at a leading international firm, based within the City of London, working on a breadth of domestic and international projects. Hayley then spent several years at a national UK firm, where, prior to joining Foot Anstey, she led the “responsive, pragmatic, and efficient” non-contentious construction team.

Outside of work Hayley enjoys spending time with her family, often cheering her children on at football matches and dancing events. Hayley also enjoys caring for the family dog, cats, bearded dragon and tortoise. When time and weather permits, she also enjoys relaxing in a pub garden in the sunshine.

Work highlights

• Advising on the development of a series of retirement and later living facilities across the UK, in locations such as Chester, Elmbridge, Thames Valley, and Exeter. Acting for a leading later living developer, Hayley supported on the delivery of a national development programme with individual projects of up to £25 million. Hayley supported her client in drafting and negotiating a full suite of template construction documents, which she then adapted for use on particular projects.
• Advising a large social housing provider in the South-West on several developments in relation to the drafting and negotiation of building contracts, development agreements, appointments, novations, warranties and guarantees. Hayley provided strategic and procurement support on a variety of issues to help the client adapt to an ever-changing construction market.
• Extensive experience in advising a large international retailer in undertaking a wide portfolio of construction projects in the UK. Hayley provided support with drafting, and negotiating complex framework agreements, building contracts and consultancy appointments for retail premises and large-scale distribution hubs, along with highways, facilities maintenance, and refurbishment contracts for range of new-build and existing developments in all areas of the UK. The client’s operations are extensive, and Hayley has acted in negotiating and managing construction-related frameworks for a multi-million-pound supply chain that supports over 100 supplier, contractor, and consultant entities.
• Acting for a developer on various national projects, including the development of a designer shopping outlet.
• Acting in a co-counsel role to the London office of an elite US law firm, advising domestic and international clients on a breadth of transactions. Projects that Hayley has provided specialist construction support on include an agreement for lease and related works for a newly developed premises at a prestigious London site, construction, and projects support on an international multi-million-pound data centre development and advising on consultant engagements relating to a multi-million-pound leisure development in Egypt.

• Recognised as a 'Rising Star' by the 2015 London Super Lawyers List for Construction and Civil Engineering.