Property Associates/Senior Associates (4 yrs+ PQE)
Location: Scotland
Contract Type: Permanent
The Brief:
We are currently looking to recruit Scottish qualified property lawyers (4 years+ PQE) to join our top ranked team in Scotland (Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow offices).
This is an excellent opportunity to work on a wide variety of commercial property transactions. You will start by working with some of the highest profile investors both UK and internationally on high profile commercial developments in the office, logistics, retail, student accommodation, build-to-rent and infrastructure sectors. Real Estate Finance work and largescale asset management are also skillsets that we are interested in. You are not expected to have experience of all of these sectors before, but you should be interested in these areas of work and eager to learn more.
You will have the opportunity to be part of transactional teams supporting clients with their real estate requirements across the UK working alongside colleagues from our other offices and benefiting from our internal legal professional support network and our advanced delivery team. You may have the opportunity to become dual qualified in the future if you want to expand your interest into English property.
About the Team:
You will be joining a team of over 40 fee earners in Scotland. We are listed as Tier 1 in Legal 500 and Chambers in Commercial Property.
Our Scottish property development and investment team is led by our Partners, Katharine Hardie, Paul Connolly, Martin Devine, Lesley-Anne Todd, Russell Munro and Ewan Alexander. By joining our team, you will be involved in transacting some of the best deals in the market, with on-hand support throughout from our friendly team of experienced property lawyers dedicated to working together to deliver successful transactions for our clients. As part of our team you will receive tailored training and support, with constant opportunities to improve and learn new skills as part of our commitment to ensuring our team members are able to enjoy both career and skills development.
The work you will do encompasses high-end investment and occupier deals for a roster of the most prominent UK and international corporates. There will also be opportunity to work on retail investments, urban regeneration schemes, strategic developments, property finance and a variety of other major projects.
Work highlights:
Work on cutting edge properties: we act for HFD Group which included acting in all aspects of the development and sale of 177 Bothwell Street, Glasgow – Scotland’s largest investment deal of 2022. This comprised 315,000 sq feet of grade A office space in the centre of Glasgow’s business district, which includes a first for Scotland - a running track on the roof.
Work on climate change: we act for both Motor Fuel Group (the UK’s largest independent forecourt operator) and Ionity in the roll out of EV charging hubs across the UK.
Work on major regeneration projects; we act for Winchburgh Developments on the £1bn residential led development at Winchburgh in West Lothian. It is one of the largest developments in the UK and involves 3400 new houses, new schools, a new motorway junction, canal basin, retail and ancillary developments. Essentially building a new town. We also act for Shawfair Developments in relation to another large scale residential led development project to the south east of Edinburgh.
Work on regenerating Glasgow: we act for Barclays on their acquisition and development of a new campus in Glasgow, containing multiple buildings comprising in excess of 450,000 sq ft of new office space. This development was billed in the media as the most significant property deal in Scotland of the last 25 years.
Work on innovative projects: we used technology and artificial intelligence to assist a German investor acquire the Bizspace portfolio (mixture of flexible office space; offices and industrial sites) which had over 70 properties and over 1000 leases
Work on iconic buildings: on Buchanan Street itself, we have acted for Strathclyde Pension Fund in the original acquisition and then sale of the House of Fraser Store on Buchanan Street, Glasgow and acquired investment and development properties for Redevco (including the Nike Store), in addition to acting for Glasgow City Council in respect of the potential redevelopment of Buchanan Galleries.
Work with household names: we act for a number of high street names including Uniqlo, Mint Velvet, Office and French Connection as well as for investors who own shopping centres and major retail parks. Harper Collins in the development and relocation of their warehouse and distribution centre to Robroyston, Glasgow (the largest logistics pre-let in a decade), for Aviva funds in the funding of a new office development at Kildean Business Park Stirling (let to M&G Prudential Services Limited for their new central Scotland HQ); and for Legal and General on Scottish build-to-rent projects at Buchanan Wharf, Glasgow and Candleriggs, Glasgow.
Work on green ports/logistics projects: we act for Forth Ports in relation to the majority of their Scottish ports estate including on significant renewables and housing projects and in addition are acting for major operators investing in and developing ports and harbour infrastructure across Scotland to support offshore renewables energy projects and the transition away from fossil fuels to green energy solutions the critical expansion
Work on award winning projects: we acted for Bricks Capital on the development of their 600 bed True Glasgow Student accommodation facility. This was awarded Private Halls of Residence of the Year at the Property Week Student Accommodation
