Helen Murcott

Helen specialises in commercial real estate law, advising institutional real estate investment clients, developers and overseas investors into the UK real estate market and heads up one of our four commercial real estate teams.

She has over 20 years’ experience advising on real estate asset management, acquisitions and disposals, commercial real estate development, structured real estate transactions and real estate finance.

Helen leads the team acting for Royal London, having been re-appointed to their panel in 2021, following an association with their property portfolio going back to 2007. Helen's work for Royal London covers their high street retail and retail warehouse portfolio nationwide.

Relevant experience includes advising:

• On the sale of the long leasehold interest in Cannon Place for c.£480 million. This core City of London office and retail investment is located above Cannon Street mainline and underground station and was sold by way of the sale of units in a Jersey unit trust. The transaction included preparation of a comprehensive vendor due diligence package with a certificate of title and reports on the development agreements entered into with Network Rail and London Underground Limited for the redevelopment of the asset and the stations.
• Royal London on their acquisition of a 7.5% stake in Bluewater Shopping Centre in a deal worth in excess of £150m. Royal London acquired a long leasehold interest entitling it to 10% of the income from the centre, which it now holds on trust as 7.5% for itself and 2.5% for Aberdeen Asset Management.
• Royal London on the contribution of 23 properties worth approximately £700 million into their new £2.7 billion UK property fund – The Royal London UK Real Estate Fund. Helen coordinated a team of more than 30 real estate lawyers from our network on the preparation of certificates of title for some of the most valuable assets in Royal London's portfolio including the Victoria's Secret and Hugo Boss stores on New Bond Street, a block of shops, offices and flats between Long Acre and Floral Street in Covent Garden and various buildings on Oxford Street.
• WeWork on the acquisition of over 135,000 square feet of Central London office space in 9 locations in under 6 months for WeWork’s new Headquarters product. Helen advised WeWork on streamlining their leasing process with the introduction of a precedent WeWork bespoke lease of part incorporating the client’s specific operating requirements and production of a template lease report which was rolled out across all the WeWork panel firms.
• Lendlease Retail Partnership on the disposal of Touchwood shopping centre in Solihull for £90m shortly after the retail sector reopened for business in 2021, having been closed due to the Covid pandemic. The centre is anchored by John Lewis and has more than 120 tenants. Helen co-ordinated a DACB team including tax, IP, commercial, employment, construction, property litigation and transactional real estate lawyers.

Helen has been described by clients as “…excellent … commercial, strategic in her thinking and clear. She is very responsive.”

In addition, Helen is an active member of RE:WOMEN, hosting events for them and moderating panel discussions. Helen has moderated panels at Bisnow conferences on overseas investment into the London real estate market and the state of the London office market, as well as co-hosting a webinar on international real estate investment into the UK for DACB’s Korean and Asian contacts.