Stephen.Chalcraft@pannone.co.uk

Stephen is a partner in Commercial Real Estate and is also Head of the Public Sector team.

Stephen advises both corporations and public sector bodies on all aspects of property development and regeneration work. He has particular expertise in large scale multi-use urban regeneration schemes and in public/private partnerships. He also advises on property joint venture structures.

His experience includes work on development and framework agreements, collaboration agreements and Joint Venture structures, often involving EU Procurement, grant funding, state aid and public realm.

His caseload includes a number of high profile schemes in the North West, which include some key regeneration projects in both Manchester and Preston.

In addition Stephen advises on all aspects of landlord and tenant law, leasehold portfolio management and business/office park set ups and advises a number of the major clearing banks on their property lending requirements.

Stephen was head of the Real Estate team for six years and is recognised by market observers as having “done a great job of expanding the property practice” (Chambers).  In further recognition of this the team at Pannone was awarded “Property Team of the Year” at the Manchester Legal Awards held in February 2011.  He is also recognised by the market as “being entrepreneurial and intellectual” (Legal 500).

Best career moment: Acting for Manchester City Council on a collaborative partnership arrangement to bring forward the regeneration of a whole new urban quarter located just to the North of the City Centre and anchored around a new 326,000 square foot HQ building for the Co-operative Group.  The initial phase comprises the construction of the new HQ building, the alteration of the existing highway infrastructure in the area and the creation of high quality public realm which is designed to open out the regeneration area and facilitate pedestrian flows to and from the existing City Centre.

The City and the Co-op are to work together on the subsequent phases which in total comprise 4m square feet of office, retail, leisure and residential development. Now that’s a real regeneration project!

Experience:

• advising Lancashire County Council on the phased demolition of its existing bus interchange in Preston and the phased relocation of bus services to a major new bus interchange facility to be constructed by a joint venture between Grosvenor and Lend Lease Europe. The scheme involves the development of one of the largest bus interchange facilities in the North of England, and is intimately linked to the wider regeneration of Preston City Centre via an overarching development agreement and phased infrastructure and decanting provisions including the option for temporary “on-street” bus facilities
• advising St Helen’s Council on the redevelopment of a new Rugby League stadium in St Helens. The scheme involves substantial grant funding from the Council and NWDA and State Aid and includes the provision of new public infrastructure, a Tesco superstore, a new stadium and the development of a substantial residential scheme
• advising Bluemantle on the redevelopment of a major regeneration project covering 129 acres, up to one million square feet of mixed use commercial space and circa 1200 residential units. The scheme involves a joint venture with a national developer and a partnering arrangement with the local authority. It includes substantial public infrastructure provision to link the scheme to the existing town and surrounding urban fabric, the enhancement of key historic buildings with the Conservation Area and the creation of a sustainable mixed use community with the possibility of a waste to energy facility
• advising GMPTE and Manchester City Council on a joint venture with Argent PLC for the development of one of the largest office and residential developments in Manchester. For tax and investment reasons the project was structured using both freehold and long leasehold LLP and limited partnership structures with geared rental and profit sharing provisions.  Part of the scheme was recently sold to a US based private equity group
• advising Rok Development on an off balance sheet, deadlocked non-recourse joint venture with Royal Bank of Scotland for the acquisition and development of 160,000 square feet of offices, together with substantial infrastructure provision and amenity land. The joint venture was structured so as to facilitate the acquisition and development of other sites throughout the UK
• advising Westbury Homes on the acquisition and development of major city centre residential scheme (400 units) incorporating retail on the ground floor. The scheme formed the first phase of Allied London’s prestigious Spinningfields Scheme in Manchester and involved a subsequent joint venture between Westbury and HBOS backed by way of a syndicated revolving credit agreement for the acquisition and development (by the joint venture) of further residential sites throughout the UK
• advising Genr8 Developments on the 1.2m square feet phased re-development of Stoke-on-Trent city centre. The intention is to create a new prestigious office quarter to form a sustainable central business district which is to be the cornerstone of the transformation of Stoke into a vibrant mixed use city centre destination. The development is office led but will also include residential and hotel floor space together with ancillary retail, food and drink, commercial and leisure uses.  The development agreement was entered into with Stoke City Council and Advantage West Midlands, the latter providing both land and, separately, grant funding.

Stephen qualified as a solicitor in 1990 and became a partner in 1997.