Janette Speed > Shoosmiths > Edinburgh, United Kingdom > Lawyer Profile
Shoosmiths Offices
9 Haymarket Square
EDINBURGH
EH3 8RY
United Kingdom
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Janette Speed
Work Department
Social housing and property: commercial property/ real estate.
Position
Janette advises on a full range of residential and commercial development transactions for national housebuilders, property funds, student accommodation providers and Affordable Housing clients in Scotland.
She is particularly experienced in complex, large scale mixed use urban developments and strategic site assembly acquisitions. She also has extensive experience in project management across public/private sector initiatives as well as overseeing Scottish plots and disposals team for national clients in Scotland and her approach is seen by her clients as proactive, client focused and practical.
Janette is a ranked lawyer and Chambers Directory reports that clients consider her “very proactive and conscientious”. They also praise her ability to tune into client relationships, saying: “she is responsive and sensitive to our needs, anticipating them rather than waiting for us to get back to her.” She is also described as “very commercial” and “pleasant to deal with.”
Recent projects on which she has advised include:
Acting in a multi-million pound new housing development at the former Hunter’s Tryst Primary School in Edinburgh for property fund PfP Capital through the site’s purchase and forward funded development. It is one of the first developments delivered as part of a housing investment fund set up last year by the Scottish Government and Places for People Group and its aim is to provide around 1,000 mid-market rent homes across the country. She is currently acting on another 3 sites across the central belt including Millerhill in Edinburgh where the fund acquired 2 parcels of land from a well-known contractor/housebuilder and construction is already underway.
Acting for Bellway in the acquisition of a major development site at Lasswade, Edinburgh. This acquisition involved 3 firms of solicitors, 4 different overage provisions (incorporating a worked example for a Section 75 overage payment such was its complexity), extensive provisions relating to liability for planning conditions and Section 75 Agreement obligations, numerous bespoke provisions in the missives, various non-standard title issues, a title indemnity policy for extensive reservation and mining issues, detailed and extensive Collaboration Agreement with Miller Homes to inter alia govern how the transaction and development itself would be managed and bespoke Deed of Conditions provisions allowing the seller’s land to be brought into the ambit of the Deed of Conditions in the event that the seller does not get planning permission for development on that area. The deal also included licences for works for site investigation, various reliance letters and dealing with deferral of LBTT in respect of the overages. This deal was strategically important for our client as it was the first site to be acquired by the newly formed East of Scotland Division of our clients.
Career
Janette joined Shoosmiths in 2012 and is the office head of the firm’s Edinburgh office.Trained Pagan Osborne & Grace, qualified 1990; partner 2004.
Languages
Basic French.
Memberships
SFHA; CIH and Law Society of Scotland.
Education
Perth High School; Aberdeen University: LLB (1987); Dip LP (1988).
Leisure
Reading, travel, music/ arts.
Lawyer Rankings
Scotland > Real estate > Commercial property: Edinburgh and Glasgow
Residential and commercial development expert Janette Speed heads Shoosmiths‘ practice, which boasts a number of living sector, retail and leisure clients to its roster. Elsewhere, the group’s expertise spans corporate occupier, finance and investment mandates, with Glasgow office head Barry McKeown noted for his housebuilding sector specialism. Notable additions to the team include Lyndsey O’Connor from Dentons in February 2022, and Ian McCann from CMS in April 2022.
Scotland > Real estate > Social housing
(Leading individuals)Shoosmiths‘ social housing expertise translates into regular instructions from registered social landlords, housebuilders, landowners and government-backed property funds and builds on the team’s specialism in the mid-market rent model. Practice head Janette Speed and Lauren Miller, who was promoted to partner in May 2022, often take the lead on non-contentious matters, including the sale, acquisition and development of various sites, while, in collaboration with the firm’s commercial litigators, the team also handles contentious mandates such as title issues and debt recovery.
Lawyer Rankings
- Leading individuals Scotland > Real estate > Social housing
- Social housing Scotland > Real estate
- Commercial property: Edinburgh and Glasgow Scotland > Real estate
Top Tier Firm Rankings
Firm Rankings
- Real estate > Social housing
- Finance > Banking and finance
- Real estate > Commercial property: Edinburgh and Glasgow
- Corporate and commercial > Corporate and commercial: Edinburgh and Glasgow
- Finance > Insolvency and corporate recovery
- Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation
- Employment > Employment
- Real estate > Planning
- Real estate > Construction