Expertise
Billy is a real estate partner with over 11 years’ experience in the real estate sector. Billy has a particular focus on residential development and has advised developer/ housebuilder, public sector, and registered provider clients on acquisitions and sales of land for development purposes. Billy has particular experience in acting on development sites with a collaboration between the public and private sector.
Billy’s clients include and have included (without limitation) Vistry, Bellway, Barratt, Countryside, Crest Nicholson, Evans Homes, Harrow Estates, Kellen Homes, Clarion/ Latimer Developments, Guinness Partnerships, United Living/ Partner Construction, Rowlinson Construction, Robertson Strategic, Persimmon, Places for People, Redrow, Taylor Wimpey, Wates, Homes England, Cross Keys Homes, Great Places.
At a previous firm, Billy also played a pivotal role in helping the partners to rebuild a residential development practice across its northern offices, providing assistance in the recruitment process and the development of juniors within the team.
How do you help clients?
I am a residential development and regeneration specialist, and throughout my career I have advised developers/ housebuilders, registered providers and the government.
I help clients to achieve commercial and pragmatic solutions to problems in order for them to achieve their objectives. I am experienced in advising, drafting and negotiating conditional contracts, development agreements, golden brick agreements, turnkey agreements, overage provisions, Homes England building lease model documentation, promotion agreements, collaboration agreements and option agreements.
Experience
- Advising a major national housebuilder on the acquisition of a large development site from a consortium of landowners for a development scheme intended to bring forward over 2,000 homes over the space of 10 years. The site has an acquisition value of circa £140m.
- Advising a major national housebuilder on a collaboration scheme intended to bring forward circa 2,500 homes. The scheme will also include significant investment for services, education, health, transport and recycling, and it is to be delivered as a joint venture between two major national housebuilders.
- Advising national housebuilders on acquisitions of sites from Homes England. Billy advises his clients from the early stages of bidding for the site, through to agreement for lease stage, building lease completion and then on onward disposals to development partners such as RPs and PRS operators.
- Advising clients generally on acquisition of sites for development, usually involving conditional elements, overage structures and legal charges for deferred payment arrangements.
- Advising a registered provider client on an acquisition for development via a JV structure with another developer. There was also an element of development finance being provided to the JV which Billy assisted on.
- Advising a public sector client on disposals of land to private developers for residential development via Homes England’s residential building lease model. This has often involved working on sites where there is a mix of affordable housing, private/ market housing and PRS housing, so Billy is familiar with dealing with various parties (and their commercial drivers) on the same site.
- Advising a developer on the acquisition of a site for delivery of a mixed use scheme. This was a landmark scheme for this client as was at the time the largest development in its history, which aims to provide around 928 homes, 35% of which are intending to be affordable.
- Advising a developer based in Manchester on the residential development of a former Stagecoach bus depot at Bowes Street, Moss Side, Manchester.