Real Estate | Construction
We deal with all aspects of construction law, from project commencement through to completion. We provide a full-life service for all of our clients and are there to support you throughout the process. This encompasses advising upon:
New Building Projects
We can assist you in all aspects of the procurement, carrying out and the completion of a construction project. Specifically we can provide advice on:
complying with your obligations under the CDM Regulations prior to commencing a project
the selection of the form of building contract most appropriate for the project
the appointment of designers and professional consultants – including their terms and conditions of appointment
performance bonds, collateral warranties and parent company guarantees
dealing with the requirements of funders and achieving institutionally acceptable construction contracts
payment obligations under construction contracts and the applicability of the Construction Act which may impose statutory payment terms
on dealing with the final account
the construction law aspects of agreements for lease and development agreements
We have a significant amount of experience in advising in relation to residential/ commercial developments together with high value complex construction and engineering projects in the utilities, power, nuclear, rail and PFI sectors.
Construction Disputes
We can also assist you in resolving any disputes arising from a construction project. In particular we can offer advice in relation to:
interim payment or final account disputes
contractual disputes
adjudication
high court proceedings
mediation
Members of the team have a wide range of industry experience and have also worked in-house and so have an understanding and appreciation of the commercial realities facing any organisation undertaking a construction, engineering or development project.
Part of your team
Working with you in long-term relationships, we understand that clients have a diverse range of in-house construction expertise and experience. Depending on the demands of the situation, we will lead from the front or advise discreetly from the background. Whatever our role, we work as part of your team to ensure that the decisions you make are based on technical excellence and are relevant to the needs of your business.
Notable work
Non-Contentious
- Residential Scheme, South East London (approx. build value £135m)
Acting on behalf of a residential developer on the placing of building contracts and professional appointments relating to a 650-residential-unit riverside scheme with associated infrastructure and commercial elements. Particular features included extensive remediation works and river-wall strengthening. Also acted on institutional refinancing of scheme and securing of development finance for construction of scheme.
- Framework Agreement for construction of six datacentres
Advising an international telecommunications and data company on the tender and finalisation of a framework agreement and the resulting project contracts in respect of a programme for the design and construction of a number of data centres and associated infrastructure for a major UK utility, involving a total construction spend in excess of £100 million over a four-to six-year period.
Contentious
We advise on all aspects of dispute resolution, including mediation, adjudication, arbitration and court proceedings in the specialist Technology and Construction Court, and those matters include professional negligence, loss and expense claims, delay and disruption, bond claims, defects and final account claims as well as issues arising out of contract determination and insolvency. We also have experience in dealing with disputes in the energy, power and renewable energy sectors.
- Residential Scheme, Surrey
Defended a national house-builder client from claims made by a landowner for specific performance of a development agreement relating to a 447-unit scheme in Surrey. The claim alleged loss and damage to the value of approximately £20m arising from delay to the progress of the scheme. Matter settled on the eve of trial and part of the settlement involved renegotiating the terms of the development agreement so that the parties could move forward with the scheme as a whole.
Related Expertise
Our Team
News & Insights
This County Court lease renewal case under Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (“LTA 1954”) relates to the tenant’s attempt to include a break clause in a renewal lease and is a notable application of the Court’s approach to determining renewal lease terms set out in the leading case of O'May v City of London Real Property Co Ltd [1983] AC 726 (“O’May”).
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry has, today, published its final phase of the report to examine the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the fire at Grenfell Tower on the night of 14 June 2017. The report highlights significant deficiencies in the current building safety regulations and is likely to have a major impact on the construction industry, manufacturers and property owners.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (“the Act”) introduces several significant changes affecting enfranchisement, making it easier and more cost-effective for residential leaseholders to extend their leases or purchase the freehold of their properties. The key impacts on enfranchisement are set out in this article.
A Laytons’ team of real estate lawyers will be in Cannes during MIPIM from 12-15 March 2024. Please use the form to contact us if you would like to arrange a meeting in Cannes during these dates.
A flying freehold has no relationship to a flying fortress (a US Boeing engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930’s) but is an English legal term to describe a freehold which overhangs (or underlies) another freehold. There is a counterpart situation known as a creeping freehold, for example, a basement or cellar belonging to one freehold underlies a different freehold at ground level.
We are pleased to share that Honey Dave has been appointed the Head of the India Desk at Laytons ETL.
Save the date for our upcoming Legal Insights seminar on Stamp Duty Land Tax. On 29th June, Laytons ETL Partners, Honey and Marc, will explore all you need to know about SDLT.
We are delighted to share that Laytons ETL Partner, David Lewis, has been appointed Head of Real Estate.
We are delighted to share that Honey Dave has been appointed Partner. Honey qualified as a Licensed Conveyancer in 2009, and is proficient in dealing with both residential and commercial transactions. Having joined Laytons in 2021, we are excited to see what Honey achieves as she progresses into her new position!
Tax Partner, Marc Selby has been featured in Telegraph Money in an article highlighting home buyers using a “granny annexe loophole” to cut their stamp duty bill have faced a crackdown from the taxman amid a rise in false claims.
We understand that dealing with your family affairs requires more than just sound advice and technical excellence. We invest the time to get to know our clients’ circumstances, needs and preferences to deliver commercially informed and practical results for you.
In an attempt to crackdown on foreign criminals using property to launder money, the UK government has, for a number of years, attempted to introduce a register of those overseas entities which hold UK property.
A receiver is an individual (or those acting jointly) appointed by a creditor that holds a charge over the assets of a debtor to take custody of the charged assets, manage those assets and receive the income from them. Usually, a receiver will also have the power to sell the assets and to apply the proceeds of sale in satisfaction of the secured debt.
In May 2019, the Court of Appeal upheld the 2018 High Court decision to quash a local authority’s registration of land as a town or village green. The Court of Appeal held that the adopted core strategy policies of the local authority gave rise to a trigger event that precluded the local authority from registering the land as a town or village green.
Usually a ransom strip is a strip of land lying between an adopted highway with public rights of way and a property or land and where crossing that land or laying services beneath that land could represent a trespass on the part of the owner of the property cut off from the Highway by the ransom strip.
Freehold land typically encompasses all the land below and above it (divided vertically), which in practice means that standard freeholds do not cross or overlap. A flying freehold is a freehold property which overhangs or projects (flies) above or below an adjoining freehold property.
We have lived with the NPPF since 2012. Generally welcomed by the development industry, will the changes to the NPPF, now embodied in the 2018 framework, going to make a material difference in addressing housing delivery problems?
This update comments on the latest developments including the shortening of filing and payment window to 14 days from the effective date, what is a “major interest”?, bare trusts and first time buyer’s relief and the Supreme Court decision in Project Blue.
The significance of the NPPF was as much the fact that it put together in one place all of central government’s planning policies. It is not perfect, but some of those imperfections stem from the fact that voters are wedded to concepts such as the Green Belt which add to the problems of housing delivery in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Modular construction is a method of building in ‘module’ sections from an off-site facility. The prefabricated parts are transported to and constructed on site and the finished product is referred to as ‘prefab’ or, more recently, modular housing.