Steve Morris

Steve Morris

Senior Partner

Real Estate Team

Talk to Our Real Estate Team

Steve co-leads Acuity’s award-winning Real Estate team alongside Gareth Baker.

Steve enjoys an impressive reputation for advising on high-value property-backed financings. In fact, Wales Insider Media named him one of the most influential people in property and construction in 2022. Additionally, both The Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners have ranked him for his work.

Steve works with a portfolio of developers and lenders. Because of his strong technical skills and market knowledge, clients often turn to him for complex matters. Specifically, he specialises in large-scale real estate projects including structuring, finance, planning, and procurement.

In addition, Steve is a trusted development lawyer for both commercial and residential schemes. His clients include major local and national developers, investors with portfolio management needs, technology giants, financiers, public and third sector organisations. For example, he acts for such names as Sony, Lloyds Banking Group, Principality Building Society, Hodge Bank and West Sussex and Wolverhampton County Councils.

In recent years, Steve has led teams on on major property deals in London and South Wales. For instance, he acted for a major Cardiff developer in the development, construction and letting to the BBC and HMRC of their new Welsh HQs, and the new Welsh Valleys HQ of the Department of Work and Pensions. As a result, he continues to act on some of the largest deals in Wales and around the UK.

Steve has played a key part in the growth of the Acuity Law Real Estate team. Clients appreciate his ability to manage complex legal issues across multiple disciplines. Above all, his client-focused approach makes him a trusted advisor.

Steve hosts seminars and workshops on property and planning matters in England and Wales. 

Expertise

  • Commercial property deals and transactions – acquisitions and disposals of freehold and leasehold land, landlord and tenant, placing of security, securitisation of assets
  • Real estate development projects – from site assembly to land acquisition, site due diligence, procurement, finance and advice on planning applications and appeals
  • *Complex land assembly and split financing projects
  • Property finance – negotiation of forward funding and property development finance agreements, drafting of security agreements, collateral guarantees, and complex facility arrangements
  • Planning – from assessment of the site and application process through to negotiation and drafting of detailed planning agreements (including viability and affordable housing delivery) with advice on divergences between England and Wales in statute and policy
  • Insolvency and effect on ownership of property – protecting tenanted properties

Work Highlights

Advising Principality Building Society in connection with funding the development of the Mill, Cardiff. An ambitious £100 million residential-led urban regeneration project on the site of an old paper mill
Acting for UK-wide marina operator Boatfolk Marinas Limited in various acquisitions of commercial interests and management of its property portfolio. These matters required bespoke and targeted advice in a specialist area
Acting for Private Energy Partners (a Quinbrook affiliate) in securing exclusive development rights from renewable energy firm SIMEC Atlantis Energy. The rights were granted to develop one of the largest battery storage systems in the UK. This involved advising on the option agreement, lease, and associated documentation to locate the development on the former Uskmouth coal-fired power station site
Advising Eden Living Properties Limited, backed by Warwick Capital Partners, on launching an innovative private rented sector business. The focus was on acquiring andletting of newly built housing in South Wales and the South West of England
Acting for Greenhill Investments (Vale) Limited, the owners and developers of a 50-acre industrial site in Sully, Vale of Glamorgan, in its development of an industrial park. The matter involved selling parcels of land to various developers, and managing the funding structures and securities
Acting for ADF in its acquisition of Location One Ltd, the UK’s largest supplier of location supplies to the Film & TV industry. The acquisition included operating sites at Barking, Woking, Manchester, Bristol, Newport and Newcastle
Acting for Premier Forest in its acquisition of Decorpanel, a specialised panel processing business. This involved acquiring the operating site, a four-acre property comprising 76,000sq ft of warehouse and factory space, and employing 63 staff
Securing instruction to act for BVI-based funder Marshal European Investment Co I Sarl in its funding of development sites within the UK

Accolades

Steve is listed as Leading Partners in the Legal 500 for their work in Commercial Property

Legal 500

Steve is listed as Leading Partners in the Legal 500 for their work in Planning & Enviromental

Legal 500

Steve is ranked Band 2 by Chambers and Partners

Chambers & Partners

Steve is named in Insider Media’s Property Power List 2022
The Real Estate Team is ranked Band 1 by Chambers and Partners

Chambers & Partners

The Commercial Property Team is ranked Tier 1 in the Legal 500

Legal 500

The Construction Team is ranked Band 2 by Chambers and Partners

Chambers & Partners

The Construction Team is ranked Tier 2 in the Legal 500

Legal 500

Testimonials

Steve Morris is excellent, always supportive and knowledgeable. This leads to excellent outcomes.

Stephen is very knowledgeable and knows our business.

Top ranked in the property market for his ‘user-friendly’ approach and for ‘analysing a multitude of interlocking issues across all disciplines’, Steve is recognised in peer journals for being ‘an excellent communicator who has a good legal brain, and explains things in a very clear manner’.

Steve Morris is a star. He engages strongly with the business and has the feel of a senior employee of our company. He has strong general knowledge and is always able to recommend a person if he cannot help personally.

Steve Morris’ advice is always commercially focused, clear and timely.

Steve Morris provides exceptional service to our business and is more comparable to a senior specialist manager of our business than an external adviser.

Clear concise communication underpinned by commercial awareness.