Home / People / Darina Kerr
Portrait ofDarina Kerr

Darina Kerr

Partner

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
1 West Regent Street
Glasgow
G2 1AP
United Kingdom
Languages English

Darina Kerr specialises in all aspects of Scottish commercial real estate. She advises on property asset management for public and private sector clients and has extensive experience of leasing, development, sales and purchases, and student accommodation from both provider/institution perspectives.

In recent years, Darina has become increasingly involved in innovative collaborative arrangements, under which organisations partner with each other to maximise the effectiveness of their property portfolios. These projects often involve risk and reward sharing, bespoke occupational arrangements and demonstration of best value beyond purely financial parameters.

Darina acts for a wide range of clients including property companies, private investors, and Universities. She is an active contributor to a wide range of trade journals and mainstream press. Commenting regularly on property industry trends, her views are featured extensively in publications including Huffington Post, Property Week and Estates Gazette.  

more less

"Performed exceptionally well and we’re very pleased with how things went…"

Alex Peeke, Head of Legal, Land Securities plc

“Darina Kerr has been excellent – they have had some complex projects to deliver…”

David Newall, Secretary to University Court, University of Glasgow

Relevant experience

  • University of Glasgow on estate asset management, including the planned c.£135m campus redevelopment facilitated by the University's acquisition of Western Infirmary Hospital, the c.£ 35m joint redevelopment of the iconic Kelvin Hall Building in partnership with Glasgow City Council and National Libraries of Scotland, and numerous joint development initiatives with NHS (Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board) to create the new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
  • University of Aberdeen on estate asset management including major development work to facilitate campus strategy.
  • Land Securities plc on Scottish retail park work - asset management of out-of-town shopping centres - leases, surrenders, consents, rent reviews, and sales/purchases including recent disposal of a major Scottish Retail Park.
  • Ziggurat Student Accommodation on the purchase, forward letting and nominations agreements with Edinburgh University for a c.£30m 532-bed development spread across two locations in Edinburgh – Shrubhill, Leith Walk and nearby Murano Place.
  • Scottish Futures Trust/National Housing Trust on an innovative new NHT scheme which partners housebuilders with Councils to provide affordable mid-market homes.
  • Numerous banks and insolvency practitioners on distressed assets, including the sale of 10 residential development sites controlled by KPMG, Receivers of John Dickie Homes (In Receivership) to Stewart Milne Group, and the sale of the 290-property Heritors residential Portfolio on behalf of administrators KPMG to a pension fund.
  • Oxford Hotels & Inns (leisure arm of Khalastchi Family Investors/Flodrive Group) on asset management of c.80 Scottish hotels including sales, purchases, leases and operational issues.
  • Khalastchi Family and William Pears Group on asset management of diverse Scottish portfolio including retail, office, leisure and industrial assets – purchases, sales, leasing and security work.
more less

Memberships & Roles

  • Member, British Council of Shopping Centres
more less

Education

  • 1993 - Dip L.P., University of Dundee, Dundee
  • 1992 - LLB (Hons), University of Dundee, Dundee
more less

Feed

21/05/2020
Emergency Legislative Amendments herald key changes to Student Accommodation...
The Background The Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Bill (the Bill) makes significant amendments to protect students in Scotland from having to pay for accommodation they cannot now occupy. However, these...
01/10/2019
Right to flush
The Sheriff Court decision in the case of Carol Morris and James Morris v Robert Patrick Curran and Maria Josephine McGarry Curran is a helpful consideration of what level of noise constitutes a nuisance...
30/08/2019
Careful What you Call It
The outcome of a debate in the case of Gatsby Retail Limited v The Edinburgh Woollen Mill Limited is a warning to be very careful about how incentives are described in Missives of Let, especially where...
26/06/2019
Exit: Keep Clear
A recent English Court of Appeal decision serves as a reminder of the importance of ensuring rights to terminate a contract are clearly composed. In the case of Mears Ltd v Costplan Services (South East)...
30/04/2019
Is The Devil Really in the Detail?
A recent decision of the Sheriff Appeal Court considered the enforceability of ‘agreements to agree’ As solicitors, we caution our clients that clauses in contracts which are essentially the parties...
29/03/2019
Crystal or Mud?  A recent decision reinforces the importance of clear drafting,...
The recent commercial case of K/S Meadow Way v DGM London Road Limited [2019] CSOH 20 demonstrates the importance of ensuring that variations are carefully thought through to ensure they do not have unintended...
01/02/2019
Going Live: LBTT Changes Now In Force
The Scottish Government set out its draft Budget for the period 2019 to 2020 on 12 December 2018. Outlined within this Budget were proposals to change the Land and Building Transaction Tax (LBTT) rates...
29/11/2018
Registers Direct No More
Registers of Scotland will finally shut down its legacy information service, Registers Direct, at 9pm on Friday 30 November. So, from then on online searches of the Scottish property registers will need...
31/10/2018
Who’s Buying?  Land Reform Continued – Proposals Published for Compulsory...
The relatively newly formed Scottish Land Commission has published its proposals for the new Compulsory Sales Order (“CSOs”).  CSOs are part of the Scottish Government’s land reform programme –...
27/09/2018
Talk May Not Always Be Cheap…
‘Formal Documentation’ and ‘Complete Agreement’ clauses are now part of the boilerplate for property contracts in Scotland.  The intention of these clauses is to confirm that the terms of the...
31/05/2018
Important role for Legal Advisers in growing Life Sciences Sector
Scotland is an ideal location for a strong global life sciences industry, ranking as a top three nation for research productivity and impact. The 19 Scottish universities and higher education institutions...
31/01/2018
Powerful Opportunity - Policy-driven increase in electric cars offers new...
We explore below some key points for landlords considering introducing EV points in new locations The UK Government’s Clean Growth Strategy (published in October of last year) sets out proposals to...