Commercial development

We understand that some deals can be speculative, either through the nature of the local planning regime, or simply because pre-lets haven’t always been secured by the time you want to put a spade in the ground. We take the time to understand you and your purchasers so that you come to regard us as an extension of your team, whatever the deal.

We focus on what matters and take a commercial and proactive approach to getting deals done. 

We work seamlessly with our construction team to ensure nothing is missed between the development obligations you give away and the construction obligations you get in your building contract.  Our construction team works closely with our development team, advising on every facet of the procurement process along the way and we have specialists within the development team to deal with issues around planning, infrastructure, vacant possession and agriculture law.

Some of the types of matters which our commercial development lawyers can advise and assist you with are:

• Confidentiality agreements
• Site acquisition and strategic site assembly
• Conditional contracts
• Option agreements
• Agreements for Lease with development obligations
• Forward sale and purchase agreements
• Forward funding agreements
• Speculative funding agreements
• Joint ventures and collaboration agreements
• Development agreements
• Development finance facilities
• Development management agreements

Our cases

• Advising property developer Beechfield Estates Limited on the acquisition land and subsequent attainment of planning permission for developing a brownfield site in the centre of Coventry for the construction of an eco-efficient 155 bedroom student tower block for Coventry University. This deal involved a seamless collaborative approach between our Development, Construction and Banking & Finance teams advising on the acquisition and £8m development finance facilities. Timing was critical to the whole project in view of rising build costs and on-going viability and consistency with the appraisal.
  
  
• Acted for a developer in the acquisition, letting (following substantial refurbishment works) and £6.8m disposal of a city centre office block in Bristol. This was a significant project for our client with office space in Bristol being at a premium and so it was imperative that the original purchase, refurbishment, letting and subsequent disposal was done within a tight timeframe in order to make the most of Bristol’s vibrant office market.
  
  
• Acted for Midlands based developer AC Lloyd in the negotiations of a land sale and development agreement with Warwickshire College to construct Warwick Trident College’s new state-of-the-art engineering building. The site is designed to train an extra 285 advanced and 253 higher apprenticeships in the manufacturing, mechanical, electronic, automotive and product creation sectors. The new facility, including specialist engineering workshops and teaching space. Our legal work encompassed all property (Real Estate), Planning and Construction related aspects.
  
  
• Acted for a Midland based developer with an Agreement for Lease for a pre-let of a new Tesco supermarket including major landlord works followed by a forward sale agreement for the sale of the investment to a private investor.