Wragge & Co advises on landmark £30 million alliance for Capital Shopping Centres

Wragge & Co has advised one of the UK's largest property companies, Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), on an innovative new facilities management alliance. The £30 million per annum alliance arrangement is believed to be a first for the sector and will see a new approach to facilities management across CSC's shopping centre portfolio.

A team led by commercial partner David Lowe advised on the landmark alliance. The agreement outsources the delivery of facilities management services across CSC's ten major UK shopping centres to specialist providers Europa Support Services and Inviron. The agreement represents the first time an innovative alliancing approach has been applied to facilities management in this sector. Its approach sees all parties agree to apportion risk and reward to provide the best service model and create value for CSC's tenants.

David Lowe said: "This is a significant new contract for CSC and will bring consolidation and consistency to the provision of facilities management services across its ten major UK shopping centres. Focused on creating a collaborative and innovative framework, CSC knew Wragge & Co had the right experience and the ability to bring a fresh approach. Working closely with management, we identified the opportunity to use our alliancing expertise to create a new contractual arrangement that would provide the best outcome for the client."

Commercial, IT and outsourcing associate Simon Edwards and employment expert Fiona Dalrymple also supported on the project. Together they combined experience from other public and private sector projects to develop a complete facilities management solution for CSC. This involved assisting with the development of the initial tender documentation, drafting the new alliance agreement, and assisting in negotiations with the short-listed providers. The team worked closely with CSC's commercial director, Trevor Pereira, and facilities and environmental manager Brian Boundy.

Trevor Pereira at CSC added: "Forming this new alliance marks a real step forward in our facilities management provision and will better position our business for growth and change. Wragge & Co's outsourcing experts brought a commercial and innovative approach to the procurement process. They understood our business, how we like to work and identified the wider considerations we needed to address. The result will provide welcome benefits to our tenants."

CSC is one of the leading specialist developers, owners and managers of major UK regional shopping centres. It currently owns 13 centres around the country, which equates to 14.1 million square feet of retail space and was valued at £4.9 billion at 30 June 2010. From 1 April 2011 CSC will partner with facilities management providers Europa Support Services and Inviron through the new alliance.

The contract sees Europa continue its existing relationship with CSC and extend the provision of a full range of "soft" services - such as cleaning, security and customer services - across the ten shopping centres. Inviron will work collaboratively with Europa to provide specialist "hard" services to support the operation of the buildings and its infrastructure.

Wragge & Co's Commercial, IT and Outsourcing team brings experience from many sectors to add value to clients. Its work in facilities management outsourcing goes beyond delivering cost savings to working with clients to maximise value across a complex range of services in line with commercial goals. For example, the team advised the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on its 15-year, sustainable built environmental and workplace support services outsourcing contract worth approximately £900 million.

Creative thinking is central to the team's approach and has led to a number of sector firsts. An example is its work with the Healthcare team on advising NHS East of England on the first ever competitive acquisition of an entire trust, Bedfordshire & Luton Mental Health and Social Care Partnership Trust, to South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust. This received recognition at the 2010 British Legal Awards with an award for Commercial Team of the Year. It follows the firm's success in being ranked among the top five most innovative law firms by the Financial Times.