Senior Associate - Housing & Regeneration

Location

London or Winchester

The Housing and Regeneration team is one of the largest in the country, and advises on all types of development transactions—from forward funded schemes, s106 acquisitions, golden brick transactions, land led schemes, options/conditional contracts, overage provisions and large scale estate regeneration schemes,and stock rationalisations to general asset management work. It also has a very successful housing management department supporting housing associations with landlord/tenant matters.

We are seeking a self-motivated and committed Senior Associate (5+ years PQE) to join our team working on matters with a planning and highways focus. The ideal candidate will have experience with planning and highway matters within the social housing, local government and healthcare sectors.

The Senior Associate will join the planning team sitting within the Housing and Regeneration Division in our London or Winchester office.

The role will include supporting the planning team with planning and highway matters on behalf of local authorities, housing providers and NHS Trusts, with a particular focus on transactional work typically involving planning due diligence, drafting and negotiating agreements such as s106 Agreements, s38/s278 Agreements, utility agreements, alongside planning advice including application of policy, planning applications/appeals, planning enforcement and planning committee attendance. In addition supporting the wider Housing and Regeneration team with site acquisitions, and charging projects.

Key responsbilities include:

• Draft and negotiate legal agreements covering planning and highway matters e.g. s106 Agreements, Deeds of Variation, s38/s278 Agreements;
• Prepare reports and advice to clients;
• Attend and provide legal advice at planning committees;
• Carry out land registry searches and review title;
• Deal with complicated queries across a range of planning and highway subjects from policy/application/appeals through to enforcement;
• Work closely with our development, construction, charging, litigation and other teams to ensure that the client’s objectives are achieved;
• Provide technical support and supervision to associates, trainees and paralegals to ensure that clients' service deadlines for exchanges are met;
• Maintain and streamline working procedures to enable a smooth delivery of service to clients;
• Deal professionally and articulately with client enquiries and communications, demonstrating at all times a sound understanding and knowledge of the nature of the client's business;
• Understand the ethos of the housing, local government and healthcare sectors and assist in the attainment of key performance indicators and other quality standards required by our clients;
• Establish strong relationships with the team's clients, deliver training to clients and internally to team members, and provide support to the rest of the planning team; and
• Any other duties as reasonably requested.
• Contribute to the team’s active business development with existing and new clients.

The successful candidate must have previous experience within the planning profession either in another law firm or local government setting and will be able to demonstrate experience in these areas.

Knowledge and experience that would be beneficial for this role includes:

• Experience in planning and highways – particularly s106 agreements, planning enforcement, planning committees and highway agreements;
• Knowledge and understanding of the affordable housing sector.
• Knowledge of the local government sector particularly in relation to planning and highways functions.
• Knowledge of the healthcare sector.

Candidates will be expected to be able to demonstrate that they have:

• Ability to manage a varied caseload;
• Ability to supervise juniors within the planning team;
• A natural affinity and empathy with clients and referrers and the ability to present well to both internal and external customers;
• The ability to draft documents to a high standard;
• The ability to work effectively as a team player;
• Able to contribute to business development – such as articles,…