Real Estate & Construction

• Acting for Rightacres Property Co on Cardiff’s Central Square, a landmark development and regeneration of the city centre that includes one million sq ft of office, residential and retail space, from the acquisition of the entire site to the development, construction, financing, sale and letting of all building plots with highly complex financing arrangements with Legal & General. The project involves various office schemes, the new £100m HQ for BBC Wales, the new home for HMRC in Wales, a new £100m transport interchange and one of the first BTR schemes in Wales.
• Acting in the acquisition and redevelopment of a significant scheme in South London encompassing residential, education and community buildings and the refurbishment of Grade II listed buildings on the site.
• Advising on the new HQ for the Department of Work and Pensions in Treforest, South Wales, a £30m development and one of the region’s biggest office schemes which involved the lease agreement, development funding agreement and the associated building contract and construction documentation.
• Advising IQE plc, the global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced semiconductor wafer products, on the historic £38m deal to establish the world’s first compound semiconductor cluster in South Wales, the first investment under the £1.2bn Cardiff Capital Region City Deal programme.
• Acting for University of Wales Trinity Saint David on its multi-million pound SA1 Swansea Waterfront sustainable development, a joint venture to create purpose-built facilities for learning, teaching and research as well as social, leisure and recreation space.
• Acting for Greenbank Partnerships in its £500m development of the Cardiff International Sports Village on reclaimed land in Cardiff Bay, the major regeneration scheme that includes one of the most highly regarded ice sports arenas in the UK, as well as residential and retail developments.
• Acting for Bluestone Resorts in connection with a new £105m resort in North Wales, having advised on its original five-star national park resort in Pembrokeshire.
• Acting for Principality Building Society on its involvement as funding partner for a flagship regeneration scheme to create a £100 million urban village, a vibrant and sustainable new community in Cardiff with 800 homes, half of which are affordable homes.

Overview

Acuity Law is a business affiliate of the UK Science Park Association and members of our team have been active participants in their members’ meetings since 1993, sharing experience and guidance in conversation, in presentations, in print, and during the present pandemic, in webinars and online discussions.

Whether you are an existing client of Acuity Law with your own innovation facilities or looking for assistance, we are ready to help you. From guidance on the initial structure – matching the needs of founding partners to a practical and successful operation – to land assembly, master planning, design, construction, and the long term management and lettings.

Our core team have supported numerous science parks across England and Wales either in a stage in their evolution, to brainstorm a rethink of ambitions, or to manage the use of space and facilities by tenants and occupiers.

Work

• A major science park-based and university-led vehicle propulsion systems hub developing new systems of global significance to the automotive and logistics sectors
• A university-hosted project to develop a flexible and evolving creative to TMT hub able to offer commercial sponsors a testbed for technology development within the newly regenerated city centre, the testbed being able to be refitted for different programmes over time
• The creation of a new regulated environment for virtual tenancies to facilitate links with its parent university, with full compliance with related MLR licensing and reputation management to protect its host university
• As the UK government’s new plans for “Subsidy Control” – the successor (save in Northern Ireland) to EU State Aid – are going out to consultation, we are responding to that consultation on behalf of the sector and our clients, as well as assisting clients to define methods to maintain compliance both with pre-existing support and looking at new funding and grants.

Science & Technology Parks Brochure

Key Contact

Barry Sankey
Partner
[email protected]
+44 (0)7859 106 000