Laura is a Senior Associate on our Core Real Estate team and acts for a range of clients, both public and private sector on transactional matters.
Laura has extensive experience advising FE, HE and academy clients on all real estate matters within the education sector.
Laura has extensive experience advising HE and FE clients on college mergers, development agreements, student accommodation contracts and projects, disposals and acquisitions.
Laura’s experience in the academy sector involves assisting both single academy trusts and multi-academy trusts acquiring and disposing of academies. She also has experience of the establishment of free schools and PFI schools and regularly assists academy clients with their ongoing estates needs post-conversion. This has included advising on shared use agreements, the grant and acquisition of leases with third parties, and funding issues arising from grants from, amongst others, Sports England, Football Foundation and the Big Lottery Fund. Laura has experience in foundation schools, land subject to trusts, reverters and church land, including negotiations with the Diocese, and has a demonstrable understanding of the DfE requirements on all projects.
Laura also has experience on restructuring and banking matters and in the pipeline industry and senior living sector.
Laura trained with Eversheds, qualifying in September 2016, completing seats in real estate, real estate litigation, restructuring and health and safety.
Recent experience in the HE and FE sector includes:
- advising a FE client on the disposal of surplus land to a residential developer by way of a split sale agreement, including a complex development agreement with step-in rights and funding issues for the build of a leisure facility for the institution on adjoining land
- drafting and negotiating leases for a university client including student accommodation blocks, including a full review of the University’s current lease and property structure of student accommodation to ensure the University is fully aware of their obligations and the ability to challenge the accommodation provider
- advising a university client on its student accommodation contract, including the implications of the Tenant Fees Act, and preparing a standard form student accommodation contract and alternative accommodation contract for ‘show flats’
Her recent experience on academy transactions includes:
- advising an academy trust on various site issues when acquiring an academy including complex issues surrounding access, the maintenance of an adjoining children’s nursery and children’s public playground and shared CCTV, boiler systems and fire alarm systems. The site was also split so the Local Authority could terminate the lease of half of the playing fields in the event they required the land for their development;
- advising an academy trust on their estate management including arranging a shared-use agreement at two sites with the local Sea Cadets, advising on a pre-school nursery lease, assisting with finance documentation regarding a lease of solar panels at one academy and preparing a precedent shared use agreement for the trust to use for various lettings at their properties
- advising on a church school academy conversion with PFI funding where a footbridge sits on both Local Authority and Diocese land including negotiations regarding maintenance, ownership and ongoing liabilities once the PFI agreement terminates
- advising an academy trust on the relocation agreements of 2 special schools which were to be funding by the Local Authority but were required to meet minimum standards and specifications given the complexity of the needs of students and the associated funding costs and building issues
- LLB Hons (Dunelm)
- LLM Professional Legal Practice
- Legal Practice Course