Our people

Profile: 

Chris is a partner in the commercial real estate team and heads up the Living and Life Sciences sectors, with a broad range of experience across all aspects of investment, development and asset management work, as well as strategic land advice. Chris specialises in capital transactions and active management of office parks (including research & development, fitted & lab-enabled buildings and incubator spaces), as well as retail assets (with a particular focus on the repositioning of town-centre shopping centres). He also has notable experience in site assembly, collaboration and land promotion agreements (acting for promoters and owners), and has a deep knowledge of development projects acting for institutional investors, student accommodation developers and educational institutions.

Professional experience: 

• Acquisition of high-value investment assets, e.g. industrial/logistics hubs (as standing investments or with a development angle for Firethorn Trust), several town-centre shopping centres (Washington Square, Workington for Europa Capital and The Grafton, Cambridge for L&G’s UKPIF2), retails parks (Newcastle Shopping Park for Patrizia's TransEuropean VII) and office buildings (The Interchange, Croydon for Tristan Capital Partners), as well as disposals of such assets e.g. The Forum, Solent Business Park and The Riverside Centre, Stafford.
• Acting for Stanhope Cadillac Fairview in overseeing the asset management of four units at Cambridge Science Park, as well as in relation to their redevelopment of 70 Gracechurch Street, London (a prime office building with consent for a 34-storey tower offering 600,000 sq ft commercial space).
• Acting for Scale Space (a JV between Imperial College and Blenheim Chalcot) in overseeing the asset management of their 200,000 sq ft innovative space dedicated to life science and tech startups in London’s White City Innovation District.
• Advising on purpose-built student accommodation developments, including the forward funding by way of sale and leaseback (with option to purchase back freehold), and on development agreements / investment lease re-gears for City of London prime office buildings.
• Involved in repositioning exercises e.g. The Grafton, Cambridge (L&G’s UKPIF2) – which involved a £28 million phased refurbishment of the centre, including a restaurant and leisure quarter, as well as a gym and separate hotel development. Also involved are complex relocations of existing tenants (conditional on new incoming tenants or upsizing of occupied units), pre-let agreements conditional on planning / licensing / works / etc, lease re-gears, lease renewals and advice for redevelopment purposes.
• Acting for RO Land, a land promoter of greenfield land, brownfield sites and unused urban land, typically through promotion agreements and options with a focus on small and medium sized residential and commercial development and long term strategic land.

Professional history: 

• Trained at DLA Piper and qualified in 2009
• Assistant Solicitor, Maples Teesdale, 2009 – 2012
• Associate, Maples Teesdale, 2012 – 2014
• Senior Associate, Maples Teesdale, 2014 – 2019
• Of Counsel, Maples Teesdale, 2019 – 2022
• Partner, Maples Teesdale, June 2022

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