I joined Michelmores in 1990 as a relatively newly qualified lawyer as assistant to Peter Lowless, head of what was then a small commercial property team – there were five of us including a planning solicitor.
In the intervening years, as the firm has grown, so has our real estate team and it has over the years increased by more than 10-fold. What hasn’t changed over that period, is the quality of the work, which remains top-notch.
The principal focus of my practice is development projects (some small, some large, some horrendously complex) where I have acted for a core group of clients for very many years. I enjoy adding to that group of clients, getting to know new clients, their business and what is important to them.
It never ceases to amaze me how often development issues creep into transactions that do not start as development projects – that care home being sold with a newly extended wing, the tenant who proposes to refurbish their premises.
Whilst my workload covers commercial development projects, residential disposals and development acquisitions for affordable housing providers, it also extends to property investment work, landlord and tenant matters, property refinancing, work in the care sector (GP surgeries, elderly and residential care homes), acting for charities large and small, property with an ecclesiastical or educational base, including Higher Education where I am proud to continue to advise the University of Exeter. I also support colleagues in our corporate teams in a variety of share sales and purchases and asset sales and purchases on the associated property aspects. These can range from hotels to care facilities, to waste facilities to holiday parks. I enjoy being part of a team and successfully delivering these transactions, working closely with colleagues in planning, corporate, employment, tax, projects and property litigation.
I am ranked in Band 4 for Real Estate in the independent legal guide Chambers. I am also a recommended lawyer for Commercial Property by the Legal 500.
Advising on the development and disposal of a 200,000 square foot 10 acre site for a developer client;
Advising on the property aspects of the acquisition of a number of waste companies by an overseas waste operator expanding its portfolio in the UK;
Advising on the structuring and disposal of a former airfield for redevelopment for employment generating uses;
Advising on the sale of a large holiday park and on beneficial interest arrangements, all occupational arrangements and property issues;
Advising on the acquisition of a redundant building for redevelopment for a mixed-use affordable housing scheme;
Advising on the sale of a London school for residential redevelopment in the build to rent sector.
