Land Securities (LandSec), the UK’s largest commercial property development and investment company, has refreshed its legal panel and upped the number of firms from seven to nine in the first retender since 2016. 

New appointees Gowling WLG and Cripps have joined re-elected firms Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, CMS, DAC Beachcroft, Eversheds Sutherland, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, and Pinsent Masons as members of LandSec’s legal panel for a new five-year term, the company said. 

The property developer said the refresh was intended to align its legal service providers with its new emphasis on mixed-use urban neighbourhoods, a strategy it formally launched in October 2020. The company will also continue to focus on its central London offices and major retail destinations. 

Alex Peeke, head of legal at LandSec, said the company was “delighted to welcome Cripps and Gowling” to the panel.  

“We have been very pleased with the performance of our panel over the last six years and in particular during the pandemic when they helped us carry out some major transactions under very challenging circumstances,” he said. 

Peeke added that the review allowed LandSec to “tap into some of the additional capability that our panel has to support new focus areas for the business”, particularly its focus on mixed-use urban neighbourhoods. 

LandSec ranks among the largest real estate companies in Europe with a £12bn portfolio of retail, leisure, workspace and residential hubs including the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent and Deutsche Bank’s London headquarters. 

Anna Favre, a client relationship partner at Tunbridge Wells-based Cripps, said the firm’s contentious and non-contentious residential real estate team meant it was “ideally placed” to provide “targeted legal support” to LandSec as it continues to focus on mixed-use urban environments. 

“As a new strategic supplier to Landsec, we are also pleased to have the opportunity to act in partnership to improve how we operate as a responsible business, such as reducing our carbon emissions and improving diversity and inclusion,” Favre said. 

“With Landsec as a client partner we will share the resources and knowledge to tackle these problems together.”