A real estate duo from the international law firm, Gowling WLG, has used a radical legal approach to help bring plans for a new town in South Cambridgeshire to life – and believe it could become a model for future new villages and housing developments throughout the country.

Gowling WLG's advice to property developers Thakeham Homes led to the creation of a network of a new form of interlocking strategic land agreements in the vicinity of Shepreth. It is anticipated that this will lead to the creation of a series of new villages connected to a newly proposed South Cambridgeshire town and the creation of new infrastructure links of national importance. This will be the UK's first zero-carbon community. This includes an infrastructure-led plan for 25,000 zero-carbon homes, which will include 10,000 affordable homes and biodiversity net gain of at least 20 per cent.

The advice provided by Gowling WLG's Head of Real Estate Group, Richard Bate and Senior Associate, Jennifer Tully, covered all legal aspects of the site assembly of this new project, which is of national importance due to its scale and sustainability-led focus. The novel approach the firm has taken in the creation of these new agreements is an excellent example where the future of sustainable and practical real estate development is concerned - and the team are excited to have profiled it here.

Richard Bate said "It has been a pleasure to bring our long-standing and thorough real-estate expertise to bear on the core site-assembly and development aspects of this exciting project – which is set to lead the way in best practice where future sustainable residential and mixed use community development is concerned.

"Our ability to bring a more integrated and efficient legal services model to bear on this market has made it even more of an exciting experience and we look forward to utilising it far more in future."

Gowling WLG provides integrated legal solutions to the most complex real estate transactions, as well as on-going advice on day-to-day issues relating to property investments and developments. The firm is able to advise through all stages of a project's lifecycle, offering a wide range of services across their real estate practice.