Commercial property developer Land Securities Group (Landsec) has unveiled its revamped property legal panel, expanding its roster from seven to nine firms as it aligns its legal service providers with its new emphasis on mixed-use urban neighbourhoods.
Cripps and Gowling WLG are new additions from its last review in 2016, while Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, CMS, DAC Beachcroft, Eversheds Sutherland, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells and Pinsent Masons were all reappointed for a five-year term.
The FTSE 100 real estate company, which has a £12bn portfolio of retail, leisure, workspace and residential hubs including Deutsche Bank’s London headquarters and Trinity shopping centre in Leeds, highlighted a focus on mixed-use urban neighbourhoods as the newest element to its growth strategy announced in October 2020. Its strategy also includes a continued focus on central London offices and major retail destinations.
Since then, CMS advised Landsec on its £425.6m acquisition of a 75% interest in MediaCity, Europe’s leading, digital, media and tech hub in Salford in November 2021 while Hogan Lovells and CMS both advised Landsec on the launch of Bluewater REIT in April 2022, its £172m joint venture with M&G Real Estate.
As part of the retender process, Landsec also considered value creation and alignment with the companies’ refreshed sustainability strategy launched in April 2022, which included embedding ESG through its relationships with suppliers.
Head of legal Alex Peeke said: ‘We have been very pleased with the performance of our panel over the last six years and in particular during the pandemic when they helped us carry out some major transactions under very challenging circumstances. Our review has enabled us to tap into some of the additional capability that our panel has to support new focus areas for the business, such as mixed-use urban neighbourhoods.’
He added: ‘We are also delighted to welcome Cripps and Gowling to the panel and look forward to working with them. I am very confident that we have the capacity, capability and enthusiasm in our panel to help us deliver our strategy over the next five years.’
Anna Favre, partner in Cripps residential estates team, said: ‘We are delighted to have been appointed to the property legal panel and to working closely with Landsec to achieve its objectives for growth in the mixed-use urban environment.
‘As a new strategic supplier to Landsec, we are also pleased to have the opportunity to act in partnership to improve how we operate as a responsible business, such as reducing our carbon emissions and improving diversity and inclusion. With Landsec as a client partner we will share the skills, resources and knowledge to tackle these real-world problems together.’