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Commercial real estate

With one of the largest dedicated real estate practices in the market, our team of over 120 lawyers is renowned for delivering high-quality, seamless service. We take pride in our partner-led approach, tackling complex issues and working closely with our clients throughout the entire asset lifecycle. Put simply, our clients are at the heart of everything we do and by building closer connections with them we achieve exceptional results.

Our diverse client base includes institutional investors, private and publicly quoted property companies, funders, developers, occupiers, rural and urban estates, charities, high net worth individuals, and landowners involved in all types of commercial real estate matters. Some of our esteemed clients are BA Pension Fund (via their asset manager, BlackRock), Fiera Real Estate, General Projects, Knight Dragon, LaSalle Investment Management, Octopus Real Estate, Swiss Life Asset Management, Notting Hill Genesis, Patrizia, PLP, Schroders and The Crown Estate.

We are a go-to firm for overseas investors looking to enter or expand their presence in the UK market. Our combined strengths in property and wealth management enable us to offer a fully integrated service to both private and institutional investors. Our sophisticated clients expect comprehensive, tailored advice across all real estate services, consistently delivered at the highest level. Whether advising on high-value investment assets, complex mixed-use development projects, joint ventures, corporate structures or large corporate occupational requirements, our breadth and depth of experience set us apart from the competition.

Track record

Ministry of Defence landmark litigation

Forsters supported The Ministry of Defence (MOD) and Annington Homes to reach a major deal, bringing the Armed Forces housing estate back into public ownership. MOD will re-acquire c36,000 houses from Annington Homes for a total purchase price of £5.9945bn, as well as unwinding the complex and costly set of contractual arrangements between the parties which has governed their relationship since 1996.

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Octopus Real Estate care home fund

We have acted for the Octopus Real Estate since 2017, advising their specialist care home fund on the acquisition of many of the care homes in their portfolio. This has included acting on the acquisition of a £100 million portfolio of care home sites from LNT Care Developments, advising on forward fundings with numerous development partners and acquiring standing assets.

PLP, Stafford

We advised PLP on the purchase of a vacated data-centre site at Stone Business Park in Stafford, including on the acquisition and demolition documentation to ensure that the site was suitable and made ready for redevelopment into a speculative, prime 350,000 sq ft big box logistics warehouse and over 20,000 sq ft of offices. Further advice was then provided by our specialist teams to facilitate this development.

The project delivers a host of socio-economic benefits to the local economy, and has achieved BREEAM Excellent, EPC A certifications and a 10% biodiversity net gain, alongside both Carbon Neutral and Carbon Net Zero status. Throughout construction, the scheme utilised built-in renewable energy features such as solar photovoltaics, air source heating and cooling, LED lighting and electric car charging points. This development has now been let to CIRRO Fulfillment.

Shakra Investments

We advised our client, Shakra Investments, on their acquisition of 1 Sovereign Square which is one of the largest regional office deals of 2023. Shakra Investments paid £38.5 million for the 140,000 sq ft building adjacent to Leeds railway station has been let to British Telecom (BT) for a further 12 years. Our client is a Lebanese investor operating through a Jersey-based entity, and they acquired the office building in Leeds from a seller called Artmax, a Hong Kong-based investor.

General Projects and Neo Capital, Royal Albert Docks

We acted for a joint venture between developer General Projects and investor Neo Capital on the acquisition of part of the Royal Albert Docks, a transaction that was part funded by a loan from Merseyside Pension Fund. The deal involved the purchase of more than 20 leasehold interests, more than 50 occupational leases, and the acquisition of a management company interest.

Since the initial transaction, we have been retained to advise on ongoing asset management at the 375,000 sq ft mixed-use site, which the joint venture plans to evolve into the “most exciting experiential and authentic destination in the UK”.

Greenwich Peninsula, Knight Dragon

Forsters is the principal advisor to Knight Dragon in relation to its comprehensive redevelopment and regeneration of Greenwich Peninsula.

When complete, the £8.4 billion scheme will provide 15,750 residential units alongside 23,000 sq m of retail and restaurants, nearly 60,000 sq m of offices, 36,000 sq m of hotel space and 38,000 sq m of education facilities. Forsters has been working with Knight Dragon on the 150-acre site since 2012 and has provided advice across the spectrum of real estate services including development, construction, planning, financing, corporate/commercial, residential sales and tax matters.

Wrenbridge and Fiera Real Estate

We advised Fiera Real Estate and Wrenbridge on the acquisition of an urban logistics site near Heathrow airport for £60 million. Acquired from residential developer, Stonegate Homes, the site will be developed into a 110,570 sq ft scheme comprising of three units ranging from 22,131 sq ft to 58,127 sq ft. The site will be targeting an EPC rating of A+ and a BREEAM Excellent rating.

Commercial real estate

Commercial real estate

Track record

Ministry of Defence landmark litigation

Meet our team