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Development and Investment

Development and investment in real estate lies at the heart of our real estate practice. We can draw on expertise across the firm, whether it be funds on the structuring side, corporate tax to advise on exposure to tax liabilities or employment to understand any TUPE issues providing a full service real estate offering.

Our development practice advises on all legal issues involved with securing complicated development sites, any overage requirements or satisfying any pre-conditions, and all financing and construction matters (whether clients are undertaking a development for themselves, funding a development or securing third-party development finance). In addition we assist with securing agreements with potential tenants to maximise the value of a development.

Investment work is a core element of our real estate practice and our reputation is particularly strong in handling complex transactions in this field. Clients include sophisticated investors, public bodies, charities, UK and overseas high-net-worth individuals and trusts acquiring real estate through on-shore or off-shore vehicles. We are able to assist in managing investments following acquisition and in handling all aspects of the landlord and tenant relationship to create and preserve value.

Recent work

Stanhope

Advising Stanhope, backed by Mitsui Fudosan UK and the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, on its purchase of the iconic BBC Television Centre for £200m.

Derwent London plc

Advising Derwent London plc on all legal aspects of the development and letting of White Collar Factory, Old Street Roundabout, London E1. The development comprises a combination of new and existing buildings providing 270,000 sq ft of office accommodation and 11,000 sq ft of restaurants. Tenants include Capital One, Adobe and The Office Group.

Derwent London plc

Advising Derwent London plc on the development, letting and forward sale of The Copyright Building, Berners Street, London W1. The building which is more than 100,000 sq ft is pre-let to Capita at £7.4m. The building was sold to Union Investment Real Estate GmbH for £165m.

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership

Acted for a consortium of funds managed by SWIP to redevelop Mannington Retail Park in Swindon involving an anchor letting to John Lewis. We also advised on three development joint ventures with Kier Property Developments and advised another Scottish Widows Fund on the proposed redevelopment of Ings Retail Park, Wakefield, with an anchor letting to Tesco.

Brookfield

Advising Brookfield Office Properties on its anchor letting of 430,000 sq ft at Principal Place, London to Amazon.

Arora International Hotels

Advising Arora International Hotels on the acquisition of a significant part of the Airport Property Portfolio from BAA/Morley. This was a fast track deal that we exchanged very quickly for our client whilst at the same time ensuring that we built in adequate flexibility to accommodate anticipated structuring issues and protection for lenders. The value of the deal was in the region of £300m.

More London

Advising More London on one of the largest central London development schemes undertaken in the last ten years. The nature of the project required expertise from across a number of different legal disciplines and we advised on aspects from development and investment and real estate finance through to planning, environmental and construction.

Tower 42 Holdings

Advising the buyer on the purchase of the Tower Unit Trust, the owner of the Tower 42 Estate, for £282.5m. We also acted for the borrower on the subsequent acquisition finance from Aviva Commercial Finance Ltd.

Legal & General Pensions Limited

Advising on the forward funding of a new state-of-the-art office hub in Bristol, pre-let to HMRC and developed by Salmon Harvester.

The Berkeley Group

Acting for The Berkeley Group on its appointment as the developer of 3,500 homes on a 26 acres site in Newham near to West Ham tube station. The development will include transport infrastructure, a new 1,000 pupil school as well as affordable homes and over 1,000 rental properties on a brownfield site.

Balfour Beatty Investments

Acting for Balfour Beatty Investments on the public procurement process for the regeneration of the Winstanley and York Road estates.

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Contact

See all contacts

Clare Breeze

 Partner and Head of Real Estate
+44 (0)20 7849 2404 Email Clare

Quick reads

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In depth

Ground rent reform: consultation and comment

Rebecca Delaney, Lina Isaac 17 Jan 2024
Ground rent investment strategies have grown significantly in recent decades, and it is presently estimated by the Residential Freehold Association that UK pension funds have more...
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Legal changes in 2024 - what should developers be aware of?

Clare Breeze, Rebecca Delaney 16 Jan 2024
We have outlined some of the key changes that developers should be aware of this year from a legal standpoint.
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Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill - high street rental auctions

James Rees 10 Aug 2023
Going once. Going twice. Going too far?
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