Duncan Tringham

Duncan has over 16 years of experience supporting local authorities and other public sector bodies with a range of projects and transactions, particularly grant funded developments, regeneration and public / private collaborations.

Recent Work

• The Cornwall Council on the Langarth Garden Village project which involves the strategic development of five schemes in Truro delivering 4000 homes, commercial and retail space and the Stadium for Cornwall with support from central government and the Housing Infrastructure Funding. Duncan led and coordinated significant parts of the project including the land assembly, development, grant funding, security, options and transfers. He also provided real estate support on the construction, procurement, State Aid and planning aspects.
• The London Borough of Tower Hamlets on a new £350+ million regeneration scheme at Alisa Wharf in London involving multiple developers, landowners and funding from the Mayor of London. Duncan led and coordinated the project as a whole and advised on the development, overage, buy back, transfers and leases. He also provided real estate support on the construction and procurement aspects which includes the delivery of a new bridge.
• Bournemouth Borough Council on the development of a major regeneration scheme at the Pavilion and Lower Central Gardens in Bournemouth. Duncan advised on the various real estate agreements, including complex trust and transfer arrangements, leases, covenants, development easements, planning, procurement and leasehold enfranchisement.
• The London Borough of Tower Hamlets on the land assembly for a £300 million regeneration scheme next to the Blackwall Tunnel in London in a partnership between the Council, Swan Housing Group and the Mayor of London. Duncan advised on the compulsory purchase aspects of the project which deliver the scheme, including the transfer and registration of a mixed portfolio of residential and commercial properties to enable development through GVDs.
• Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust on the public / private collaboration for the development of a new clinical research facility. Duncan led the project and advised on the real aspects of the procurement process including the core terms, evaluation criteria, development agreement and ancillary real estate issues and documents including land assembly, transfers, construction package and security.
• Devon and Cornwall Police (PCC for Devon and Cornwall) on the development and relocation of an air support facility in collaboration with Exeter Airport and the Devon Air Ambulance Trust. Duncan coordinated the project and advised on the development and relocation agreement, leases, practical completion and facility sharing as well as a variety of real estate issues that arose along the way.
• Plymouth Science Park on the grant funded development of Phase V of the Science Park in collaboration with Plymouth City Council, Plymouth University and the Heart of the South West LEP. Duncan led and coordinated the project as a whole, advising on the collaboration and funding agreements, construction procurement, forward lettings and a variety of property and planning issues

Duncan advises a variety of businesses and organisations on its projects and portfolio management from supporting high profile corporate acquisitions and disposals to routine lettings and licences.

Recent Work

Duncan has advised on a number of significant projects and portfolios including:

• The Computershare Group on the acquisition of Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley’s real estate portfolios. This involved the transfer of their significant property holdings and 1700 staff based in the North East of England and the implementation of new agreements to deal with the property sharing arrangements with UKAR (the UK Government’s ‘Bad Bank’), Cerberus Capital Management (Global Investor) and various connected businesses. Duncan coordinated the real estate aspects of the project and advised on the business purchase agreement, freehold and lease transfers, various licences, property sharing arrangements, planning and due diligence.
• Centrica PLC on the real estate aspects of a £145m acquisition of ENER-G Cogen International, an established supplier of combined heat and power solutions. The project involved the acquisition of several industrial and office properties in the UK, US, Romania, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands and Romania. Duncan coordinated and managed the cross border property due diligence, undertook the UK property due diligence, advised on real estate aspects of the transaction and negotiated ancillary property documents including leaseback arrangements.
• The Eden Project on all of its real estate issues and transactions. This includes complex land assembly, lease structuring and property sharing arrangements to support its commercial activity with partners through to routine disposals and lettings. Duncan has also advised on the charity land law and stakeholder requirements of its property dealings.
• The transfer and integration of the Orange network and office portfolios as part of the merger between the Orange and T-Mobile group of companies to form EE. Duncan coordinated the real estate aspects of the project, managed the team and advised on particularly complex and challenging properties. Duncan continued to advised on the EE portfolio after the merger which included the acquisition and disposal of a variety of freehold and leasehold properties and providing property support to corporate and commercial projects.

Recent Work

• The Cornwall Council on the Langarth Garden Village project which involves the strategic development of five schemes in Truro delivering 4000 homes, commercial and retail space and the Stadium for Cornwall with support from central government and the Housing Infrastructure Funding. Duncan led and coordinated significant parts of the project including the land assembly, development, grant funding, security, options and transfers. He also provided real estate support on the construction, procurement, State Aid and planning aspects.
• The London Borough of Tower Hamlets on a new £350+ million regeneration scheme at Alisa Wharf in London involving multiple developers, landowners and funding from the Mayor of London. Duncan led and coordinated the project as a whole and advised on the development, overage, buy back, transfers and leases. He also provided real estate support on the construction and procurement aspects which includes the delivery of a new bridge.
• Bournemouth Borough Council on the development of a major regeneration scheme at the Pavilion and Lower Central Gardens in Bournemouth. Duncan advised on the various real estate agreements, including complex trust and transfer arrangements, leases, covenants, development easements, planning, procurement and leasehold enfranchisement.
• The London Borough of Tower Hamlets on the land assembly for a £300 million regeneration scheme next to the Blackwall Tunnel in London in a partnership between the Council, Swan Housing Group and the Mayor of London. Duncan advised on the compulsory purchase aspects of the project which deliver the scheme, including the transfer and registration of a mixed portfolio of residential and commercial properties to enable development through GVDs.

Duncan has over 16 years of experience supporting local authorities and other public sector bodies with a range of projects and transactions, particularly grant funded developments, regeneration and public / private collaborations.

Recent work

Notable projects include:

• The Cornwall Council on the Langarth Garden Village project which involves the strategic development of five schemes in Truro delivering 4000 homes, commercial and retail space and the Stadium for Cornwall with support from central government and the Housing Infrastructure Funding. Duncan led and coordinated significant parts of the project including the land assembly, development, grant funding, security, options and transfers. He also provided real estate support on the construction, procurement, State Aid and planning aspects.
• The London Borough of Tower Hamlets on a new £350+ million regeneration scheme at Alisa Wharf in London involving multiple developers, landowners and funding from the Mayor of London. Duncan led and coordinated the project as a whole and advised on the development, overage, buy back, transfers and leases. He also provided real estate support on the construction and procurement aspects which includes the delivery of a new bridge.
• Bournemouth Borough Council on the development of a major regeneration scheme at the Pavilion and Lower Central Gardens in Bournemouth. Duncan advised on the various real estate agreements, including complex trust and transfer arrangements, leases, covenants, development easements, planning, procurement and leasehold enfranchisement.
• The London Borough of Tower Hamlets on the land assembly for a £300 million regeneration scheme next to the Blackwall Tunnel in London in a partnership between the Council, Swan Housing Group and the Mayor of London. Duncan advised on the compulsory purchase aspects of the project which deliver the scheme, including the transfer and registration of a mixed portfolio of residential and commercial properties to enable development through GVDs.

Duncan is the governor of a college and regularly advises further and higher education institutions on their projects and transactions. This includes:

Recent Work

• The Cornwall College Group on its joint venture with the Eden Project to establish the acclaimed Eden Project Learning which provides undergraduate and post graduate programmes in horticulture, sustainability, tourism event management and many courses from the world famous site. Duncan advised on the overall collaboration and site sharing agreements.
• The University of Bristol on the grant funded development of the National Composite Centre, a world-class aviation research facility. Duncan has advised on the development and grant funding agreements, options, leases, construction documents, planning law, corporate structuring and other issues.
• The Bath Spa University on the joint venture development of the Corsham Institute, the UK Centre for digital society innovation, research, learning and enterprise. The project was a unique collaboration between a property investor, business park service provider, local authority and the university. Duncan advised on the development, leases and service level agreements.

Duncan regularly advises on the acquisition, development and financing of a wide range of clean energy projects from geothermal wells to wind farms, solar parks and community energy projects.

Recent Work

He has advised on and supported several notable projects including:

• The Eden Project and Eden Geothermal Limited on a pioneering geothermal energy project which involves the development of 4.5km deep well to release heat from the granite beneath the Eden Project to heat the Biomes and generate electricity in due course. Duncan advised on the land assembly, lease and heat network, mines and minerals and charity consents and the grant funding from Cornwall Council and MHCLG.
• The Clean Earth Energy Group on a pioneering renewable energy scheme, involving wind and solar installations on five complex sites on or next to operational mines within an airport safeguarding zone. Duncan led the project and advised on the leases, easements, grid connection and wayleaves. The scheme formed part of the wider regeneration and development of an Eco Community Project and was nominated for ‘Best Renewable Energy Scheme’ at the REGEN Awards.
• The Eden Sustainable Energy Group on the roll out of over 50 solar PV schemes including the largest rooftop installation on a school in the UK. Duncan led and coordinated the team carrying out due diligence and negotiating the leases and PPAs for the installations. Duncan also advised on a variety of finance, security and regulatory consent issues.
• The Infinis Energy Group on the multi-million pound refinance of a portfolio of on shore wind turbines Duncan coordinating the CP process and managed the team carrying out due diligence and preparing CLLS certificates. Duncan also advised on the operational leases, easements, direct agreements, security and a variety of ancillary issues.
• The award winning Plymouth Energy Community on a multi-phase solar PV project which involved the roll out of 33 Solar PV schemes, including one of the largest rooftop installations in the UK at the time at the Plymouth Life Centre and the development, finance and refinance of a 4.1 MW ground mounted solar PV project. Duncan led and managed the team dealing with the leases, collaboration agreements, due diligence and financing including the provision of CLLS Certificates.

Duncan has also provided specialist real estate support to the nuclear industry, advising both the public sector and energy companies on a range of developments and portfolio management including transactions on licensed nuclear sites.

This includes advising and supporting the following:

• NNB on the development of facilities which form part of the EDF Nuclear New Build programme at Hinkley Point C. Duncan advised on the collaboration/funding, development and lease agreements for the facility and supported the team advising on planning and construction issues.
• The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on the multimillion pound Asset Use Project in preparation for the development of new nuclear power stations, including the strategic land acquisition, nuclear site leases, cooperation agreements and relocation of facilities to enable the development. This included advice on de-designation and nuclear site licensing issues.|
• The EU Commission on the proposed divestment of Dungeness and Heysham Nuclear Sites owned by EDF as part of the Commission’s conditional approval process for the acquisition of British Energy. This included a detailed property due diligence of those sites and the proposed divestment terms to establish the marketability of the sites and the suitability of the proposed divestment commitment.
• UKAEA and RSRL on the day to day management of its industrial and office property portfolios on nuclear licensed sites involving various sales and lettings, the management of tenants on its portfolio and a variety of licence, consent, enforcement and other issues affecting their portfolios. This included leasehold contamination agreements and the relicensing of nuclear facilities.
• GE Healthcare and Magnox on de-designation and the surrender/variation and relicensing of nuclear licenced sites for their operational facilities. This included advice on the requirements and liabilities under and following the process.