Property and Education

Our commercial property team advises on a wide range of investment, development, property, project management and construction issues for clients both in the education sector as well as large corporates. The team has particular experience in handling major projects and recently handled the relocation of New Look's distribution centres, known in the sector as one of the most innovative and on time projects. Our planning and regeneration team has also been heralded as pre-eminent in this area.

The property team is backed by a nationally respected planning and CPO practice and is supported by specialist construction and environmental law teams. This powerful combination ensures that clients maximise the value of their property assets and we work closely with our clients to ensure we have a deep appreciation of their requirements.

• Leases
• Lettings
• Building construction contracts
• Conveyancing, sale and purchase
• Planning law and procedures
• Title/ownership, Deeds of Covenant
• Property taxation and VAT advice
• Bonds, warranties, guarantees and insurance
• Tenancy, licence to occupy, agency agreements

Leases
We have advised various sector institutions in respect of granting leases on campus to commercial service providers and securing leases of space off campus for the provision of various types of education service and student accommodation. We have also acted for a university in connection with a major medical school project including site acquisition, dealing with a complex lease structure involving the grant of numerous leases in the medical school building and advising on construction and planning issues relating to the project.

Lettings
We have extensive experience in facilities sharing and letting arrangements in the education sector, including sports facilities (sharing with sports clubs and premier and divisional league football clubs), theatres, accommodation blocks, lecture suites and the like. These have varied from outright leases or tenancies to commercial agreements detailing usage and pricing. Such arrangements are common to a number of our clients who rightly seek to maximise revenue from their investment in facilities and/or wish to offer the use of them to local community groups or complimentary bodies.

We have also acted for a university in connection with a major medical school project including site acquisition, dealing with a complex lease structure involving the grant of numerous leases in the medical school building as well as advising on related construction and planning issues relating to the project.

Building construction contracts

Our experience includes:

• advising HE institutions on complex building projects including drafting construction contracts for new student accommodation, new teaching facilities and the development of a new commercial services building
• advising on property funding, construction and planning issues for a dedicated nurse training centre for a HE institution
• advising HE institutions on the forms of appointments for professionals and negotiating terms with professionals.

Conveyancing, sale and purchase
Our experience includes:

• acting for a HE institution in the acquisition of a large volume of student accommodation and for another institution in the acquisition of two properties comprising over 400 student rooms
• advising a university on becoming a shareholder in a Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) relating to a medical centre including advice on procurement, construction and property issues
• advising on the redevelopment of existing teaching facilities for an FE institution. The development and relocation was linked to the sale of existing college land to the contractor who then carried out development at the new teaching facility. The receipts from the disposal partly funded the construction work. We advised on procurement methods, regulations, project management, design responsibility, risk allocation, financing and security as well as planning issues on the disposal of land
• acting for a university on the acquisition of additional campus space and sites, including site compilation/addition to existing campus, disposal and land exchanges.

Planning law and procedures
We have a particular reputation for advising on complex and diverse planning and environmental issues arising from major projects or transactions, including, compulsory purchase, highways, environment, contaminated land, waste, property development matters and issues revolving around the Habitats Directive. We have advised on projects such as the new road systems for Wembley stadium, the town centre redevelopment at Didcot and a major town centre regeneration for Reading Borough Council.

Our national and international reputation as a leading planning team with good education experience means that we can be trusted to understand and deliver on any size project you might have.

Our lawyers are currently advising on wide-ranging projects such as offshore wind farms, new residential communities and a number of proposals in sensitive locations. This national expertise has been frequently used in the education sector and we have considerable education experience of negotiating and drafting Agreements and related planning conditions across a range of projects including:

• the completion of a Section 106 Planning Agreement and a section 278 Highways agreement for the development of a new Sports Centre at a university campus
• agreements related to public access, offsite highway improvements and landscaping.

Title/ownership, Deeds of Covenant
The team are currently dealing with two applications at HM Land Registry for voluntary registration of unregistered title to campuses for HE bodies. They have also provided research and advice into restrictive covenants affecting campus and the impact of those covenants on development, seeking counsel's opinion in respect of enforcement and possible Land Tribunal action.

Property taxation and VAT advice
The team provide various advice rendered in the property arena in conjunction with specialist VAT advisors in respect of VAT scheme leases to ensure tax effective structures for campus developments.

Bonds, warranties, guarantees and insurance
Our construction team has significant experience in drafting and advising on the terms of performance bonds, parent company guarantees, collateral warranties and the insurance requirements of a project. The team is familiar with the industry standard forms and practices in relation to these often overlooked but crucial parts of the project framework and can advise on how they fit into the risk management strategy.

Tenancy, licence to occupy, agency agreements
We have been involved in:

• acting for various institutions in respect of the grant of tenancies and other occupational and other partnerial arrangements with service providers to include university bookshops, caterers, hairdressers, insurance companies, students union bodies etc
• facilities sharing arrangements between universities and NHS Trusts
• regularly taking appropriate action (either through the courts or otherwise) to deal with disputes with tenants and other types of residential occupier.