Changing Places: Helping clients relocate

Financial services sector client expanding into new office

We worked together to support a financial services sector client who was expanding into a new office as part of a multi-let building. We advised on all aspects of the transaction including drafting of the leases and negotiation of the Licence to Alter. Our pre-acquisition survey advice was critical in ensuring that our client had the benefit of an increased power supply to feed their trading desk operation and a contribution to supplementing the cooling system for their increased occupancy density at nil cost.

Once the transaction completed, our project managers delivered a turnkey fit out saving our client over £600,000 on the originally quoted costs from fit out contractors. Our capital allowance specialists then identified tax savings in the order of £220,000 for the client.

By bringing together property specialists from across Gateley we ensured that all aspects of the project were delivered seamlessly and cost-effectively avoiding any issues ‘falling through the gaps’ between advisers.

Food manufacturing client acquiring new UK headquarters

Our property team worked together to support a food manufacturing client to acquire a new UK headquarters, to house its core manufacturing operations and UK distribution hub. The chosen site was a dilapidated industrial works owned by a UK institution. Our client agreed terms to take a lease of part, which included a full refurbishment of the existing 80,000 sq.ft. facility, together a new extension to institutional standards of 100,000 sq.ft.

Our legal and technical experts worked together to ensure that the development agreement attached to the lease fully protected our client, ensuring that all their needs were met ahead of the deal being signed, securing as much work by the landlord as possible for the agreed rent. This meant there was no need to add in works post completion and avoided any potential hikes in rent for the term of the lease.

Our technical experts then monitored the landlord’s works, ensuring that our client received exactly what they had committed to in the timescales required, allowing them to effectively manage, plan and co-ordinate the move of their UK headquarters without disrupting their day-to-day operations.

Our capital allowances experts were then able to identify tax savings in the order of £800,000 for the fit out of the premises, which the client funded directly.

Veterinary practice expansion

As part of the expansion of a veterinary practice, our project managers encountered a challenge with existing electrical infrastructure buried beneath the existing facility and close to the new state of the art equine facility. The DNO wanted to charge our client £54,000 to move the cable that wasn’t registered anywhere on their title.

We called upon our utilities experts to advise, and they were able to get the cable moved at nil cost to our client.