Residential & commercial development

Our team have considerable experience of acting for and working with both developers and landowners, on a range of property development matters. Our property acquisition lawyers provide support with the entire lifecycle of a project, from heads of terms, through financing, planning and building to disposal.

Transactions may involve a range of documentation depending on the size and complexity of specific sites and the nature of the outcome required. This includes options, conditional contracts, promotion agreements, collaboration agreements, overage and pre-emption agreements, forward funding agreements and joint ventures.

Plot sales and disposals

We understand how important it is that, once a project is complete, all legal aspects of the sale or lease of units is dealt with swiftly and smoothly. We have expertise in advising on a range of projects, including social housing and public amenities.

Our property development lawyers have extensive experience in handling all aspects of plot sales and disposals, from site set up, incorporating management companies and setting up data rooms to producing all relevant documentation and standard contracts, as well as overseeing the specialist conveyancing process and advising on leases.

Infrastructure agreements

We are highly experienced in the drafting and negotiating of a wide range of infrastructure agreements, including highways agreements, utilities agreements, easements, sub-station leases and telecoms agreements.

Development finance

We act for senior debt and mezzanine funders as well as advising borrowers. Our clients include major financial institutions, banks, private equity houses and high net worth individuals. We have been appointed to numerous panels, acting for various lending clients over many years.

Whether you are a funder or borrower, our real estate finance lawyers provide commercially focussed advice aimed at ensuring deals are completed within the required time frames whilst still protecting your interests. Our role is more than simply knowing the law; our property finance lawyers apply business acumen to get the deal done in a timely and efficient way.

Construction

Our construction solicitors and engineering lawyers use their expertise and in-depth knowledge of the construction industry to help make your construction project a success and resolve any disputes that arise.

We advise businesses and individuals on specialist construction contracts including JCT and NEC contracts, and ancillary project documentation, with support that is tailored to each project. We can also assist with self-build projects. If issues arise, our construction dispute solicitors are on hand to provide immediate support.

Dispute resolution

Our property dispute solicitors are experienced negotiators who employ a wide range of methods to resolve disputes, with a particular focus on alternative dispute resolution, avoiding the cost and complexity of going to court.

We can help to mitigate and resolve disputes across the entire lifecycle of a project. We regularly help to unlock the potential of development land, dealing with restrictive covenants, easements, rights of common, assets of community value, ransom strips, rights to light and the impact of public rights of way on developments.

Our team is also experienced in resolving valuation disputes on option agreements, as well as overage disputes and any other general contractual disputes that may occur during a development project.

Insolvency and distressed projects

We act for a range of claimant lenders, advising on enforcement options, the appointment of receivers if necessary, administration or liquidation. We can also deal with all appointment documentation.

Our team of construction insolvency solicitors also has extensive experience in managing the disposal of distressed projects.

Planning

Our property planning lawyers act for developers, builders, sub-contractors, land owners, local authorities and statutory bodies to achieve the best possible outcome where planning issues arise. They use their breadth of knowledge to offer an extremely well-rounded, jargon-free service.

At any time in a project, planning issues can crop up, causing often unforeseen delays and complications. We are here to help you overcome those hurdles and facilitate the smooth progress of your project.

We have extensive experience of advising on section 106 issues, Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), greenfield and urban brownfield sites, planning appeals, judicial reviews and other proceedings before the Planning Inspectorate.

The Building Safety Act

We can help you navigate the complexities of the building safety regime. Taking a joined up approach, that draws on expertise from across our Construction, Real Estate, Real Estate Finance and Real Estate Disputes teams, we help you to understand relevant obligations under the Building Safety Act and identify and mitigate risks associated with the building safety regime.

Corporate & Commercial

Our Corporate & Commercial team advise on all aspects of corporate transactions, with a strong focus on understanding the commercial vision of our clients. Our commercial  lawyers can help with setting up and advising on management company formation and structure and/or joint venture companies. We also have extensive Banking & Finance expertise, working with a wide range of lenders.