Sarah is a planning solicitor with a wealth of experience who has spent much of her career at the London office of an international law firm, as part of its highly ranked planning team.
She prides herself on providing pragmatic, solutions-based advice to her clients who include developers and investors.
Sarah deals with all aspects of planning and highways law, including working closely with real estate colleagues to provide support on property transactions.
She has a proven track record of securing planning permissions for large-scale, high-profile schemes in London and beyond, including in the housing and commercial sectors, and has extensive advisory experience in relation to complex planning law issues.
Sarah provides legal support on all aspects of the planning application process, including reviewing application documents, drafting and negotiation planning and infrastructure agreements and advising on planning conditions, highway issues (including stopping up and diversion orders) and amendments to consented schemes.
She also reviews planning agreements on behalf of funders and deals with general planning law issues.
On real estate deals, Sarah is adept at dealing with sites with a complex planning history to identify any planning issues and potential remedies (both commercial and high-value residential). She is also skilled at drafting planning provisions in sale and purchase agreements, agreements for lease and option agreements which are conditional on securing planning permission.
Relevant experience:
Development Projects
• Mixed-use scheme in Essex, including 3,600 residential units, a new business park, retail, leisure, open space, education, community facilities, new highways and a railway station.
• Redevelopment in east London, including 5,000 residential units, leisure, office, hotel, community and education uses and the excavation of a dock.
• Redevelopment of an army garrison, including permission for a residential scheme of 2,600 new homes on surplus land.
• Various prime central London residential schemes, each of around 250 units, in locations including The Strand and Millbank.
• Various schemes associated with the regeneration of the Paddington Basin site.
• Hotel and office scheme in Salford.
• Various nationwide schemes for a major food retailer.
• 2.3 million sq. ft. warehouse for a top logistics developer.
• City of London projects including the Baltic Exchange, Paternoster Square, City Point and Thameslink 2000.
Real Estate Transactions
• Sale of part of west London mixed-use development site (circa 2,000 residential units).
• Portfolio acquisition of builders’ merchants.
• Acquisitions of retail parks in various locations.
• Cambridge hotel acquisition.
• Various central London office lettings.
• Acquisitions of various prime central London residential apartments (values of between £20m and £30m).
• Lettings to F&B operators.
• Lettings to the operator of a dark kitchen.