The Occupier Services industry is under pressure but with that pressure comes the opportunity to ensure that the space you occupy is the best it can be for your business’s needs.

Following months of disruption, the UK lockdown is slowly beginning to ease and businesses now need to ensure that they are sufficiently prepared to return to ‘COVID-ready’ offices.

Given the speed at which the guidance is currently being delivered, businesses need to pull together to combine all experts and assistance across facilities, health and safety, technology and employee welfare, to provide appropriate and immediate messaging around the working environment and returning to the office, as well as longer term objectives, planning and investment going forward.

As a full-service law firm, we are uniquely placed in our ability to draw on the integrated resources of our real estate, planning, construction, disputes, technology, finance, employment and tax related issues. We will work with you to deliver your new premises on time, on budget and with minimal amount of disturbance to your business.

Legal issues you may face include:

• Disposals
• Acquisitions,
• HQ relocations
• Exit strategies including break options
• restructuring and regearing
• sale and leasebacks and
• Portfolio management.

We also provide the comprehensive seamless service that occupiers require in specialist areas such as telecoms, sustainability, environmental, corporate and financial structures.

We will work alongside you to provide creative solutions to difficult problems and to anticipate and mitigate risk. Whatever your plans are for your business, we work with you to ensure a commercial deal that is legally robust, whilst also understanding and assisting you with the management of your timetable so that you can plan the future of your business.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions relating to occupier services or for more information on returning to the office and making your office “COVID ready”.

Highlights of our experience

• Acting for Avison Young in relation to their West End office move to recently refurbished premises at Berkeley Square House, taking a lease for a term of ten years. We have also provided Avison Young with advice and assistance on their exit from existing premises.
• Acting for Allfunds Bank in relation to their acquisition of their space (17,000 sq. ft.) in a brand new building at Fitzroy Place, London W1 on two separate leases. Subsequently we have acted for Allfunds in the disposal of one of those floors to Netflix Services UK Ltd.
• Acting for FTSE 250 investment and wealth management services provider, Rathbone Brothers plc on their move to Stanhope Mitsubishi’s new 160,000 sq. ft. City development, 8 Finsbury Circus, London, EC2 from 1 Curzon Street, Mayfair, the previous MI5 HQ.
• Acting for Montagu Evans in their headquarters move from the West End to brand new building 70 St Marys Axe in the City
• Acting for IQVIA Limited on its disposal of leasehold premises at Green Park, Reading to Virgin Media Limited and simultaneous acquisition of leasehold premises at M&G’s development at Forbury Place, Reading.
• Acting for Silver Lake Europe LLP in relation to their entry into a new UK headquarter lease in Grosvenor Street of approximately 10,000 square feet of space. We have recently acted for Silver Lake on their renewal lease of those leases.
• Acting on Royal Caribbean’s HQ at The Heights in Weybridge. We helped We helped Royal Caribbean to take and fit out additional space to expand its UK headquarters at the prestigious The Heights development, which forms part of the historic Brooklands estate in Weybridge.
• Advising NEC UK Limited on a complex restructuring of the occupation of its headquarters building.