Lawyers from the Bristol office of international legal practice Osborne Clarke have helped a development consortium win a contract to carry out a major university student campus upgrade.
The team advised the Viridis consortium on its bid to serve as delivery partner for the University of Manchester’s sprawling Fallowfield Campus redevelopment, pictured.
The project will create modern, high-quality, purpose-built student accommodation by demolishing outdated older buildings – some of which date back to the 1950s.
When completed, the wider Fallowfield campus – the main student accommodation area for the university – will have up to 5,400 student bedrooms, including 3,300 updated bedrooms to meet the growing demand for high-quality, modern student living space.
The Viridis consortium is made up of London-headquartered infrastructure investor, developer and manager Equitix, national construction firm Graham and Leeds-based facilities and management firm Derwent FM.
The Osborne Clarke lawyers advising on the deal were led by partner Chris Wade, along with associate director David Smith – both members of the firm’s projects team. 
They were supported by Matt Germain and Caroline Bush in environment, Sarah Knight in corporate and Tracey Wright, Elizabeth Shanahan and Helena Zaba in tax.
Chris Wade, pictured, said: “It’s been a pleasure to support Viridis on this exciting redevelopment project with the University of Manchester.
“Huge congratulations to all parties, we look forward to seeing how the project progresses.”
Osborne Clarke, which employs around 800 people in Bristol and also has UK offices in London and Reading, is a recognised industry leader in the built environment sector, providing a comprehensive lifecycle service and advising major real estate industry organisations, ranging from occupiers to property funds to developers and investors.
It recently worked with the University of Bristol on its new £500m Temple Quarter Campus, which will be home to 4,600 students and 650 university staff, and acted for an international consortium of businesses specialising in public-private partnerships to secure the contract to design, build, finance and operate a 700-room development at Staffordshire University in Stoke-on-Trent.
