Property Shapers

Property Pulse: Optimism in the office sector

Rising confidence, increasing rents and renewed investor appetite: this piece by Nick Turner and Katharine Langabeer explores why England and Wales’ office market is emerging as one of real estate finance’s most optimistic sectors for 2026.

Office market recovery masks regulatory cliff for investors: Henrietta Garner for CoStar

In a recent piece for CoStar, Real Estate Partner Henrietta Garner explores why improving office market sentiment is arriving at the same time as a major regulatory squeeze.

Universal planning powers

Nicholle Kingsley and Danyal Raza examine Universal’s landmark Special Development Order — the first granted for commercial development — and explore how this precedent could open the door for major projects to secure faster, bespoke planning consent outside the usual system.

Commonhold: coming soon to a development near you?

Published in draft at the end of January, the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill signals the Government’s proposed overhaul of the leasehold system. Lucy Smith examines plans to cap ground rents in existing long residential leases, abolish forfeiture, and make commonhold the default tenure for new flats. With the Bill still under consultation, its final shape remains uncertain.

Why smart money is splicing data and science: Anju Suneja for Estates Gazette

In a recent piece for Estates Gazette, Commercial Real Estate Partner Anju Suneja looks at how some investors are responding to the uncertainty surrounding life sciences investment by pairing life sciences space with data infrastructure, rather than relying on a single-sector bet.

Kelly's Corner

Johnny Kelly gives a round-up of the key topics we look at in this edition of Property Shapers and in particular, the increasing optimism in the office sector but also the challenges ahead.