Strategic development
We work closely with most of the leading agents. Following appraisals, we can then advise on how to achieve maximum benefit by promotion, option or conditional contract. Recent work highlights include:
Client name confidential
The strategic residential team in our Leicester office, which is headed by Nick James, have a number of regional and national household named developers as its clients. Over the past year, the team have assisted one national developer with the strategic acquisition of five large residential development sites, providing in excess of 1,200 housing units across the South and East Midlands, with many more instructions coming through for strategic acquisitions within the next year. As an example of the nature, type and level of work undertaken by them they have recently completed on the acquisition from a landowner of an outline consented residential development scheme for circa 600 units. With the assistance of our dedicated planning team initial due diligence was undertaken on the existing consent and its Planning Agreement. Thereafter Nick’s team dealt with the amendment and negotiation of the acquisition contract. There were a multitude of complex matters which needed to be addressed during negotiations, such as the enlargement of drainage rights on third party unregistered land (part of which being beneath railway land), the ability to connect into existing roadways in private ownership to create the required loop road for the scheme and separate temporary access rights and lease for construction access purposes, leading to various additional documentation being required upon which the team were instructed upon. The Firm are now on behalf of the client instructed with the development agreement associated with the disposal of the affordable housing to the registered provider and various other utility/statutory disposals.
Braintree District Council
The commercial property team acted for Braintree District Council in the £6m acquisition of the Horizon 120 commercial development site - a 65 acre site in an approved Master Plan allocation for development of not less than 65,000sqm of mixed commercial floor space falling within Class B, Class C1 and Class D1 of the Use Class Order together with an area of land for allotments. This involved contract negotiations with two separate landowners, which needed to synchronise on planning and completion timeframes, and deliver in accordance with Cabinet approvals. In addition, the main site acquisition required further complex negotiations as to delivery of retained land access involving complex construction and cost payments, securing overage for future enhanced value and pre-emption rights in favour of the Council.
Persimmon Homes
The commercial property team act for Persimmon across their various regions including Anglia, Midlands and Essex. The team has recently advised on a conditional contract dependent on planning consent for a 187-unit site which involved complex contractual provisions to ensure delivery of section 106 obligations and to facilitate access and servicing of the seller’s retained land, together with imposed ransom strip provisions. The team in Leicester also advised on the acquisition of the last phase within a development, such acquisition being conditional on satisfactory reserved matters approval, with complex obligations being required within the contract obliging the seller to deliver access and services and the site remediation works within a set time frame and apportioning responsibility for discharge of the various outline planning conditions.