Senior/Principal Associate - Affordable Housing

About the role:

We have a great opportunity for a Senior or Principal Associate within our Housing Development and Regeneration (HDR) team to provide property law advice on all aspects of affordable housing ownership, development and investment.  We work for registered providers and local authorities as well as investors. We develop and maintain strong client relationships and become immersed in many aspects of affordable housing with some projects lasting several years.

The role covers work streams involving title due diligence, land acquisition and property development and portfolio acquisition and disposal whereby we add real value to client relationships and projects. 

The role presents the opportunity for a long and meaningful career, working as part of one of the largest real estate teams in the country and for some of the top clients and high profile projects.

About the team

The Regeneration and Affordable Housing team, sits within the Real Estate Group, the third largest Real Estate practice in the UK. We work closely with colleagues in planning, construction, corporate, tax and finance. Our Affordable Housing practice is ranked by both Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500, with individual team members ranked.

We form part of the Housing, Development and Regeneration (HDR) team which comprises 11 partners and 50 qualified lawyers, supported by a team of paralegals, advising on all aspects of residential development and housing led regeneration. The HDR teams acts for house builders, mixed use developers, affordable housing providers, landowners (public and private) and investors. 

The affordable housing market is one of the most active and fastest growing areas of the real estate sector, driven by increased institutional investor interest, the Government’s ten-year, £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme targeting the delivery of 300,000 new homes over the next decade, and continuing demographic demand.  We have a large team specialising in the delivery of affordable housing development, acquisition, disposal and investment, acting for both traditional registered providers and a growing number of private sector and institutional investors entering the market.  The team is supported by a wider cross firm team that provides transactional support to real estate led deals. Our large, experienced team and excellent client base delivers growth year on year, and strong resilience in a downturn.  We provide significant opportunities for progression and promotion, with bespoke training tailored to individual needs. We invest in each person and conduct regular reviews to help them achieve their career aspirations.

The Affordable Housing team acts for registered providers and investors in the affordable housing sector.  The team’s areas of expertise includes:

• acquisitions, disposals and exchanges of land and property (including S106 acquisitions)
• Homes England and GLA grant funding arrangements
• corporate support and debt raise work 
• structuring and intragroup arrangements 
• building licences and development agreements
• development management agreements
• institutional investment in the affordable housing sector
• investor acquisitions and disposals of residential portfolios
• joint venture structuring (with support from corporate/tax colleagues)

Our clients include:

• Sanctuary Housing Association
• Hyde Housing Association
• Legal and General Affordable Homes
• Bourneville Village Trust 
• Flint Housing Limited (backed by Morgan Stanley)
• Social Housing REIT Plc
• Metropolitan Housing Trust

About you:

We are looking for someone who has 

• At least 6 years' post qualification experience in similar fields or in commercial property or development 
• Be prepared and eager to forge yourself a long and successful career acting on some exciting projects for top clients.
• You must be ready to learn, to work hard and to reap the benefits of joining a well-established and successful practice.

What We Can Offer You:

The opportunity to work for a firm that has been recognised as one of best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work® for 26 consecutive years.

Excellent benefits, including:

• A hybrid approach to office and remote working.
• 25 days annual leave, with the option to buy up to a week's extra annual leave
• Private medical insurance, and the option to add family members
• A generous pension allowance
• Life assurance covering four times your annual salary
• The chance of a three-month sabbatical every five years
• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave schemes
• A range of health and wellbeing programmes
• State of the art offices, in the heart of Birmingham City Centre, with an onsite restaurant
• Opportunities to flourish in your role through training and personal development

Equal Opportunities:

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment.  The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity.  This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work.  Our aim is to fulfil everyone's potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

If you have any queries in relation to this position or would like to see a full job description please contact Arun Kainth at arun.kainth@gowlingwlg.com  

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