Helen Streeton

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A Partner in the Commercial Real Estate team and Head of Build to Rent (BTR), Helen has lots of enthusiasm for real estate; she enjoys the industry’s tangible nature and working with a diverse range of stakeholders in the sector. She is proactive and a creative thinker who always endeavours to understand the client’s perspective, its strategic priorities and the risks it faces.

Helen constantly prioritises clear and succinct advice, while keeping deals and projects moving towards completion.

She has an extensive background in advising developers and funders of large-scale business, leisure and mixed-use projects, build to rent schemes and other complex development sites. Helen has worked on key developments and schemes in the UK, particularly in and around London. She has particular expertise in development.

Given the scale and complexity of matters that Helen routinely works on, she has become an adept collaborator, frequently working alongside colleagues, clients and other professional advisers to ensure that targets and desired outcomes are achieved.

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Nadine Gibbon

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Ronan Ledwidge

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Ronan is a Partner in the Commercial Real Estate team and heads up our Student Accommodation practice. Active across mainstream and alternative sectors, such as offices, industrial, student accommodation and build to rent, he leads multi-disciplinary teams acting for funds (institutional and private equity, domestic and offshore) and developers in relation to investment acquisitions and disposals, developments and financings.

He has particular expertise in high value investment transactions (including large portfolios and income strips) and complex development related projects such as forward fundings and forward commitments, as well as in the unique and thriving student accommodation sector. This stemmed his later interest in the wider living sector, where he has become an experienced advisor in the build to rent, later living, hotel and student accommodation sectors.

Having been with Forsters since 1998, Ronan has developed a deep understanding of the practice areas in our business and collaborates daily with colleagues from Construction, Corporate, Tax and Planning, alongside other teams in the firm. Paired with his pragmatic, commercial and technically astute advice, Ronan is able to guide his long-standing clients along every step of the way and acts as an extension of their own team.

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Nadine Gibbon

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Amy France

Amy France

Amy is a Partner in the Commercial Real Estate team and heads up the Later Living team at Forsters. She prides herself on being approachable, commercial, collaborative and committed to driving deals forward. Amy takes a pragmatic and common-sense approach when delivering projects for her clients.

She is passionate about the built environment, its tangible characteristics and its ability to positively impact society. She has developed deep knowledge of the care home and later living sectors, believing that tailored and purpose-built housing can be transformational for those in the later stages of their life and their families.

Amy has a broad range of experience across the real estate disciplines, including development work, acquisitions and disposals, financings and landlord and tenant matters. Her extensive experience in later living covers a range of real estate matters, including advising funders and investors on all property aspects of acquiring, financing, managing and disposing of sites. Amy also advises operator clients on acquisitions and lease negotiations.

She enjoys the friendly, supportive and fun environment at Forsters and has forged long-standing and strong relationships with colleagues across the firm, including those in the Construction, Planning, Corporate and Tax teams. This allows Amy to leverage the expert knowledge across the firm and pull together specialist teams to deliver the very best service for her clients.

Amy has co-led the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee since 2022, and relishes working alongside her co-lead, Charlie Miéville, and the other members of the Committee to drive forward the D&I Strategy. Amy believes that it is essential to foster a culture where every single person at Forsters feels welcomed, included and valued.

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Nadine Gibbon

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Sara Branch

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Ranked in the Chambers UK Guide for over 17 years including 2024, Sara is praised for her expertise in the acquisition and development of mixed-use sites.

Sara is a Partner in the Commercial Real Estate team and is Head of Affordable Housing. She has a strong real estate development and regeneration practice with extensive experience working for both public and private sector organisations.

In the affordable housing field, Sara acts for registered provider clients on a range of projects from complex projects involving multi-party joint ventures, profit-sharing arrangements, development and construction documents, and disposals including build to rent, to the acquisition of the affordable provision under section 106 agreements. She also frequently advises on transaction structuring as well as strategic acquisitions and disposals.

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Nadine Gibbon

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