Home | Shoosmiths wins West Mercia work
Shoosmiths wins West Mercia work
24 May 2010
Shoosmiths has been appointed a full service legal provider to one of the Midlands’ largest social landlords.
The national law firm will act across seven service areas for West Mercia Housing Group.
With stock of more than 24,000 properties and more than £85m turnover, it is among the region’s largest registered providers, covering the West Midlands, Worcestershire , Herefordshire and Coventry.
Shoosmiths’ Birmingham-based social housing team went up against 17 other firms in a ‘rigorous’ tender process.
It was one of two firms to secure a full service appointment, and will advise on property (general and complex), contracts, housing management and debt recovery, governance, constitutional and funding, property deeds and security, and employment and people.
West Mercia went to tender seeking best value legal advice, and group company secretary David Maitland said: “Shoosmiths gave practical and commercial advice, and we were impressed by the quality of the responses during what was a rigorous selection process.”
Shoosmiths partner and national head of social housing Andy Ballard said: “The client is now a big organisation and quite rightly wants to rationalise and control its legal spend, while at the same time getting top quality advice. By demonstrating our commercial awareness and experience, we’ve shown we can help it achieve its goals.”
Shoosmiths, which ranks in Tier 1 for social housing in legal directories Chambers and Legal 500, acted for West Mercia in 2008 when it helped integrate Whitefriars Housing Group into West Mercia.
As well as Whitefriars, West Mercia comprises Harden Housing Association, Kemble Housing, Nexus Housing, and Herefordshire Supported Housing for Young People.
It is the parent of West Mercia Homes Limited, which owns and manages around 6,000 properties, most of them in Birmingham, Hereford, Worcester and Coventry. West Mercia also leads the Spectrum Development Partnership, comprising ten local housing associations.
© Shoosmiths. This page is for general information: it is not legal advice. Please read our full terms and conditions for details of the disclaimers and exclusions which apply.
Search the site
Enter the keywords below to search:
Get in touch
Andy Ballard
Partner
T: 03700 86 4102
I: +44 (0)121 625 4102
E: andy.ballard@shoosmiths.co.uk