Your challenges
We appreciate that the estate is one of an education institution’s most valuable assets. It provides the learning and research environment for students and staff and is also a vital tool in the growing competition between institutions to attract the best.
Maximising the potential of your estate will present you with many issues and challenges. Our years of experience of working with the education sector, together with our connections and commitment, means that we will be working with you to anticipate problems and to develop solutions to whatever kind of challenges you may face.
Achieving your ambitions
Our experience within the education sector is outstanding. Our first university client instructed us in 1822 and we still act for them. We also advised on the very first UK science park and recently advised on the largest student accommodation deal to date. In the last two years alone, we have acted on fifteen major campus development projects.
By way of example we regularly enable leading education institutions to make the most of their estates in all of the following ways:
- Developing and implementing estates strategies
- Through the funding and development of new teaching facilities
- Establishing joint ventures with other institutions to develop and use shared teaching and learning facilities to make the most of limited resources
- Developing the most effective arrangements for the provision of student accommodation, including risk sharing and management schemes with specialist accommodation providers
- Setting up science and innovation parks and establishing business incubator schemes
- Exploiting both retained and surplus property assets to provide other sources of income wherever possible
The strength of our education practice is matched by our equally strong private sector practice which includes borrowers, institutional funders, developers and investors. You will get the benefit of this considerable breadth and depth of experience. Above all, we are committed to working in a close and collaborative way with our clients to help them achieve their ambitions so whatever your real estate requirements we can help.
The strength you need
With 24 partners and 83 other lawyers, we are one of the largest real estate groups in the UK. Accordingly, we provide strategic advice across all of the major areas of law relevant to real estate along with the complex structures associated with it. Our size means that we can easily assemble dedicated teams to deal with your projects and transactions – regardless of scale – promptly, efficiently and cost effectively. We are also able to call on the expertise of specialists in key areas of construction, procurement, PFI, PPP, tax, charity law, planning, the environment and litigation.
Lawyers you can trust
Our education real estate lawyers are not just experts in their chosen fields, although many are recognised individually by Chambers UK and Legal 500. We are also committed to the education sector and to providing the very best level of service possible to our education clients. We are ranked as one of the top firms in the country for work in the sector and that gives our real estate lawyers an unparalleled level of insight and experience, all of which is at your disposal. You will get certainty of quality, value and responsiveness. You will have the confidence that the legal issues are taken care of while you get on with the business of education.