Gateley Plc Residential Development team becomes largest in UK

We have significantly grown our Residential Development practice over the last few months, welcoming more than 100 members of staff to the team.

In addition to Gateley’s Guildford office, formerly GCL Solicitors, which was acquired on 23 May this year bringing 80 new employees to the firm’s property group, the teams in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Guildford and Reading have also grown with the appointment of 27 people. This includes two legal directors, an associate, six solicitors, a legal executive, four legal assistants, two plot conveyancers, two trainees, two apprentices, three paralegals, two secretaries, a completions assistant and an administrative assistant.

These appointments bring Gateley’s national Residential Development team to nearly 200 people, making it the largest Residential Development team within any legal business in the UK.

Earlier this year, Gateley launched its Residential Development offerings in Manchester with the appointment of legal director Louise Ilhan; Nottingham with the relocation of partner Steven Plummer from the firm’s Leeds office and Reading with the move from Guildford by partner Andy Wilson. Following this, the teams have quickly expanded and key appointments have included legal director Nick Beko and solicitor Keyan Hartley in Manchester, senior associate Simon Reynell Taylor and solicitor Lauren Sessions in Reading and solicitor Anna Thomas in Nottingham.

Partner and national head of Residential Development, Callum Nuttall, said: “There is a structural under supply of new housing in the UK and we see this as a market that will remain strong with the South East particularly, continuing to be a massive engine for housing growth for the foreseeable future. With our team doubling in size over the last couple of years and the offices the team operates out of increasing from 3 to 7, we have developed a comprehensive national presence so that we are in an excellent position to support our clients’ work across the UK.

“I am incredibly proud of everything the team has achieved to date and I’m excited to see how we progress over the next 12 months.”

The Residential Development team at Gateley Plc acts for all of the top 10 national housebuilders, and 18 of the top 20, in all regions of the UK. As well as this, since the acquisition of GCL Solicitors, Gateley Plc’s plot sales team now advises on circa £2.5 billion worth of plot sales annually.