Real Estate

We assist clients in planning, financing and implementing projects in a wide range of sectors, including:

• Data centers – Data centers are the backbone of the global digital economy, enabling cloud computing, powering critical infrastructure and supporting the data needs of businesses and governments alike. As demand for secure, scalable and efficient data infrastructure continues to rise, clients operating in this space face increasingly complex legal, regulatory and commercial challenges. We combine legal rigor with commercial insight helping clients navigate rapid technological change, evolving regulations and increasing market competition in this dynamic industry.

• Social infrastructure – Educational facilities, student housing, laboratory facilities and research parks, courthouses and civic buildings, hospitals and healthcare facilities, detention centers and sports facilities.

• Energy – From generation assets through to transmission and distribution infrastructure along with mini- and off-grid developments. Alongside deep-seated experience in traditional thermal power, our team has a wealth of expertise in the renewable energy sector, including onshore and offshore wind project development, offshore transmission owners (OFTOs), utility scale and rooftop solar photovoltaics (PVs), land- and sea-based interconnectors, energy from waste (including gas-to-grid) and large-scale hydro projects.

• Transportation – Roads and bridges, tunnels, airports, ports, parking facilities, mass transit, rail transportation and intelligent transport systems.

• Water and waste – Drinking water, wastewater, sewer systems and desalination projects, communication facilities and solid waste disposal facilities.

We have a large, highly experienced Construction & Engineering team with the scale, expertise and technical depth to support complex construction, development and financing mandates. We act as trusted advisers to clients operating at every level of the construction life cycle, delivering clear, strategic advice that protects value and keeps projects progressing.

Throughout the life cycle of a project, we provide focused, commercially grounded guidance to manage risk, maintain control and minimize exposure before issues escalate. We advise on the full spectrum of procurement strategies, contract drafting and negotiation, project and contract management, as well as dispute avoidance and resolution. Our team has deep, practical experience across all standard and bespoke contract forms, including the joint contracts tribunal (JCT), the new engineering contract (NEC) and other market led structures. We advise on building contracts – supported by hands on experience of modular and alternative construction methods – together with professional appointments, security packages, development and agreement for lease structures.

Construction disputes are an inherent feature of the sector, and when they arise, our team is well-placed to deliver decisive outcomes. We guide clients confidently through all forms of dispute resolution, from early tactical intervention and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) through to formal proceedings where required. Every member of our team is trained across both contentious and noncontentious construction law, allowing us to anticipate issues early, align strategy with commercial objectives and resolve disputes efficiently.

In the dynamic real estate M&A market, we advise investors, developers and corporate clients on the successful execution of complex transactions. Our team provides strategic, commercially focused support across the full deal life cycle, from due diligence and structuring, to completion and post closing integration.

With deep sector expertise, we act on acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, portfolio transactions and restructurings, delivering clear, pragmatic advice to manage risk, maximize value and achieve your commercial objectives, whether for a single asset or a global portfolio.

Real estate joint ventures require clear alignment on commercial objectives, risk and governance from the outset. We advise investors, developers and asset managers on structuring joint ventures that are effective, adaptable and tailored to both single asset projects and complex, multiparty portfolio arrangements.

Our team provides support throughout the joint venture life cycle, from initial structuring and partner negotiations to funding, development, asset management and exit planning. We establish clear frameworks for decision making, profit allocation and risk management, enabling efficient collaboration while safeguarding long term interests.

Drawing on strong sector knowledge and transactional expertise, we deliver practical, commercially focused advice to help joint ventures operate efficiently, respond to change and achieve their investment objectives.

Our real estate finance team is a trusted adviser to borrowers, lenders and private equity sponsors on complex, high value financing structures. We act regularly across acquisition finance, asset based lending, debt capital markets, treasury and hedging arrangements, development and property finance, leveraged and project finance, securitization and structured finance, bringing clarity and commercial focus to even the most sophisticated transactions.

We handle the full spectrum of real estate finance work, from drafting and negotiating property and development finance facilities to structuring and documenting priority arrangements and comprehensive security packages. Our team is highly experienced in working with both bespoke financing structures and lender standard precedents, allowing us to adapt quickly to the commercial and execution demands of each deal.

We advise throughout the life cycle of real estate finance transactions, including acquisitions, developments, refinancings and amendments or restatements of existing facilities. Having extensive experience acting for both lenders and borrowers – as well as investors, developers and funders – we bring a balanced, pragmatic perspective to every transaction. This enables us to anticipate issues, align interests and deliver commercially robust solutions across a diverse range of asset classes, regardless of which side of the deal we are advising.

Our planning team is a recognized leader in planning, compulsory purchase and compensation and related disciplines, with a strong national reputation built over more than three decades. Consistently ranked at the top of the legal directories, we are trusted to advise on complex, high profile and strategically sensitive planning matters.

We work closely with clients and planning consultants to secure planning consents for major new build and redevelopment schemes. Our expertise spans the negotiation of statutory agreements, detailed analysis of planning history, review of existing permissions and obligations, as well as the identification and management of planning risk. By combining deep technical knowledge with commercial awareness, we help clients unlock value, progress schemes with confidence and protect their position from the outset.

We manage large, complex property portfolios for corporate occupiers and landlords, bringing extensive expertise in securing new premises, reshaping existing lease arrangements and executing strategic disposals. We take a proactive, commercial approach to ensure that property ownership and occupation actively support operational and business objectives. By structuring portfolios around each client’s specific priorities, we maximize flexibility, reduce risk and deliver clear, measurable commercial advantage.

Our real estate tax team is firmly recognized as a market leader, known for delivering material value on complex transactions through innovative, highly practical tax advice. We play a decisive role in shaping deals, providing strategic guidance across a full range of real estate tax issues, particularly where transactions or restructurings are driven by legislative change, evolving tax policy or commercial pressure.

We have deep expertise in real estate tax structuring and investment, and are trusted to advise on high value, high stakes matters where tax outcomes are critical to deal viability. Working seamlessly alongside your in house tax teams and external accounting advisers and fully integrated with the lead real estate transaction lawyers, we provide solution driven advice that is commercial, targeted and timely.

By engaging early, we help structure transactions to minimize tax leakage, manage risk and remove tax barriers before they threaten execution. Our focus is on delivering clear, implementable solutions that protect value, enable transactions and give clients the confidence to proceed.

Our Environmental, Safety & Health team is one of the largest and most highly regarded practices in the UK, with extensive coverage across the EU and internationally. We are trusted by clients operating in regulated, high risk environments to deliver decisive, technically rigorous advice on matters with significant commercial, regulatory and reputational exposure.

We provide a full suite of specialist services, from strategic noncontentious advisory work through to robust regulatory defense. The team is recognized for its particular strength in toxic torts (including nuisance claims), waste and resource management law, environmental permitting and the contaminated land regime, including complex appeals.

This sustained focus has enabled us to develop deep and market leading expertise across the full environmental, safety and health spectrum. We combine specialist technical knowledge with a practical understanding of regulatory enforcement and litigation risk, allowing us to protect clients’ interests, manage exposure and deliver clear, commercially grounded solutions.

Our real estate litigation practice represents developers, owners, investors, lenders, landlords and large commercial tenants, across all industries, around the world. We have particularly strong experience in the most dynamic real estate markets in each major region of the world, including the US, the UK, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. We are well-connected and understand the highly nuanced local markets. We listen to our clients and aggressively pursue their goals. As a result, many of our real estate clients look to us as litigation counsel to oversee their regional, national and global real estate litigation needs.

The BSA regime is exceptionally complex and commercially intrusive, creating profound and often unfamiliar risks for owners, developers, landlords, funders and the wider supply chain. It has fundamentally reshaped the defect dispute landscape, introducing extended and overlapping liabilities, group-wide exposure, tribunal driven remedies and recovery mechanisms that frequently override established contractual positions and legacy project documentation.

In response, we have established a dedicated, cross practice BSA team focused on helping clients navigate this evolving regime with confidence. The team actively tracks legal, regulatory and market developments and translates them into clear, practical advice on risk, strategy and compliance.

Led by our real estate and construction partners, the team brings together first class disputes capability with the wider expertise required to address BSA driven issues holistically. This includes strategic advice on ongoing compliance during occupation and remediation, as well as the management and pursuit of defects disputes and recovery actions that inevitably follow.

We also equip clients to stay ahead of regulatory change. Through structured training programmes, bespoke client sessions and regular technical updates – including our Building Safety F(Act)s newsletter – we deliver targeted guidance on new case law, procedural developments and market practice. This ensures that building safety advice remains current, consistent and strategically aligned across all live matters.