Leisure & Hospitality

The team works closely with leisure and hospitality clients wishing to re-locate or add to their existing portfolio as well as new entrants to the London market from overseas.

Using experience across the team, our planning and rating experts collaborate with our building surveying and project management contacts allowing us to offer clients a complete “one stop” re-location package. This encompasses agreement of the terms of a lease, pre-acquisition building survey, planning advice (on use, signage and alterations) and fit out.

The team work with a number of restaurant and leisure providers to mitigate business rate liabilities. We work with clients to exploit empty property exemptions and the effective date regulations. Where construction activity is involved in preparing a new site we work with clients to remove the empty rate liability completely for many months or even years.

The team has experience of managing each stage of the property’s lifetime, whether it is restacking, reconfiguration, subletting or relocation projects. Each of these events provides an opportunity to reduce the business rates overhead. Similarly, at the end of the property’s life the empty property’s rate liability we advice on different strategies dependent on the circumstances and whether the property will be held empty for a short or long term. Exemptions in excess of the statutory minimums are often achievable as are exemptions to reflect the phased vacation of space.

We advice on restaurant property exemptions at the beginning, end and midlife refurbishment of assets. Where closed sites are vacant for an extended period prior to relinquishing the lease we advice on how to mitigate the rate liability. Similarly, we work with hotel owners to exploit discretionary reliefs during refurbishment programmes to yield significant savings for clients.

We advise clients on leisure and hospitality projects, from scheme feasibility, and technical compliance through to the provision of scheme viability. We work with design professionals and frequently project manage planning submissions at the pre-application and application stages coordinating sustainability, transportation, heritage and environmental technical supporting submissions.

We are adept at putting together robust, thought through applications and navigating them through the planning process, engaging with stakeholders and establishing cooperative relationships with strategic and local planning authorities.