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Roland Smyth

Of Counsel

Portrait ofRoland Smyth

Roland Smyth

Of Counsel

Contact
CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Saltire Court
20 Castle Terrace
Edinburgh
EH1 2EN
United Kingdom
Languages English

Roland is Of Counsel in the Scottish Real Estate and Hotels & Leisure teams, and is head of our Scottish Hotels & Leisure team.

He specialises in hotels, student accommodation and high end commercial property work.

Roland has acted for a number of large commercial property clients including Accor, Fattal Hotels, Oaktree Capital, Nuveen Real Estate, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Ernst & Young, the UK’s largest student accommodation provider Unite Students, Columbia Threadneedle, Tesco and Rockspring.

He has extensive experience in all aspects of commercial real estate, including sales, purchases, development, property financing, options, leases and hotel management and franchise agreements, acting for clients including institutions, funders, developers and tenants.

He has been a Scottish qualified lawyer since 1999, and has also been qualified in English law for many years.

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Relevant experience

Relevant experience includes:

  • Nuveen Real Estate, as part of the CMS team, on the £1bn Edinburgh St James development in Edinburgh - in particular, on the hotel management agreements for the UK's second W Hotel, which will be the centrepiece of the development, and a pre-let to Roomzzz of a 73 bed aparthotel.
  • Aberdeen Standard Investments on the forward funding of a new 300 bedroom Maldron hotel development in Glasgow (due to open in 2021).
  • Sircle Collection and The Entourage Group on the hotel and F&B management agreements for the new luxury lifestyle EDITION Milan hotel in Italy.
  • High profile steakhouse Hawskmoor on the legal agreements for their first Scottish restaurant in Edinburgh's St Andrew Square.
  • Leading and advising on the Scottish real estate aspects of Accor's demerger of Accor S.A. into a hotel management/brand franchise arm and investment arm.
  • Oaktree on their sales of (1) the Doubletree by Hilton hotels known as Aberdeen Treetops, Edinburgh Airport and Strathclyde and (2) Dunkeld House Hotel.
  • Barclays on hotel agreement aspects of their financing of the Courtyard by Marriott Edinburgh city centre.
  • Polish bank BGK on hotel agreement aspects of their financing of the new Courtyard by Marriott hotel at Heriot-Watt's sports campus near Edinburgh airport.
  • EY on their lease of their Edinburgh office at Atria One, Edinburgh).
  • Aberdeen Standard Investments on the Scottish property aspects of a forward-funding deal with brewer Marston’s for a £28m regional pubs portfolio.
  • Unite Students on the Scottish real estate aspects of its acquisition of Sugarhouse Close, Edinburgh as part of a 2,904 bed student accommodation portfolio acquisition.
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Education

  • 1997 – Diploma in Legal Practice, University of Glasgow, Glasgow
  • 1996 – LLB Hons, University of Glasgow, Glasgow 
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Expertise

24/05/2017
Consumers’ appetite for shopping hold key
Roland Smyth finds reasons to be cheerful about retail With a number of high street names becoming insolvent this year, including Jaeger, Jones the Bootmaker and Brantano, you could be forgiven for thinking that some elements of the retail sector are
Law-Now
13/09/2016
Who owns Scotland? – Scottish Government launches consultation on Register...
For some time there have been political concerns that entities such as companies and trusts could be used to hide the identities of people actually in control of land in Scotland, making it difficult for communities and public bodies to engage with l
Law-Now
16/06/2016
Action it now: new energy efficiency obligations for landlord/sellers in...
On 14 June 2016, the Scottish Government announced that Scotland has exceeded a target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2020 – six years early . However Climate Change Secretary Roseanna Cunningham has confirmed that the Government wi
Law-Now

Feed

27/03/2023
Sustainable Tourism
Sustainable tourism is vital for our economy, having been identified in the Scottish Government’s Scotland's Economic Strategy (2015) as a growth sector where the country can build on existing comparative advantage as well as increase productivity.
Publication
02/03/2023
CMS shares ‘Deal of the Year’ honours at Scottish Property Awards
The Scottish Hotels & Leisure Team at international law firm CMS is celebrating after sharing the honours in the winning entry for the Deal of the Year category at this year’s Scottish Property Awards. Led...
News
04/08/2021
Road to COP 26: Reimagining Tourism (Video)
Our Road to COP26 Reimagined series looks ahead and anticipates the issues and opportunities that climate change presents across a number of sectors and areas that impact our clients.   In this video...
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21/06/2021
Road to COP26: reimagining tourism
Scotland is, in many ways, the story of the expansion of international tourism in the early years of the 21st century. In the pre-Covid era, the country had become a global tourist destination in its...
Law-Now Sustainability
16/06/2021
Rebound & Remodel: Scotland's road to recovery
Much of our attention has turned to Scotland’s road to recovery post pandemic, post-Brexit and post-election.  As a nation, Scotland is still addressing a catastrophic pandemic and is in the midst of an uncertain economic landscape ahead. It is dealing with the UK’s exit from the EU and the recent Scottish general election, which has firmed up the prospect of another independence referendum in the medium term.  
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27/05/2021
CMS and Interpath Advisory Scottish Hospitality Webinar
Join CMS and Interpath Advisory for an insightful look at the challenges and opportunities in the Scottish hotels and leisure sector. The Scottish Hospitality Group has been a key voice for the hospitality...
Event Webinar
15/12/2020
CMS Scotland Hotels Newsletter - December 2020
In the CMS Scotland Hotels 2020 December newsletter, we look at:How Scots supported our hotels sector in 2020How landlords and tenants dealt with rents this yearIntended new Scottish Government controls...
Publication
27/10/2020
Rebound & Remodel Tourism in Scotland
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder: a perhaps unexpected outcome of the C-19 pandemic has seen more of us holiday in Scotland, soaking up some of the beautiful surroundings and local experiences...
Event Rebound and Remodel
23/03/2020
Focus is on making successful tourism sustainable
This article first featured in The Herald on 16 March 2020 The last day of this month marks what is being dubbed as ‘Megxit Day’. When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will cease to be senior royals...
Publication
11/11/2019
Scottish Tourist Tax: Solution or Setback?
The Scottish Government has opened consultation on its proposed transient visitor levy, or “tourist tax”, until 2 December 2019. Although Scotland has embraced its status as a centre for tourism...
Law-Now Real Estate
05/11/2019
Scottish Tourist Tax: Solution or Setback?
The Scottish Government has opened consultation on its proposed transient visitor levy, or “tourist tax”, until 2 December 2019. Although Scotland has embraced its status as a centre for tourism...
Publication
20/11/2018
Hospitality Matters - Autumn/Winter 2018
Welcome to Hospitality Matters, our regular bulletin for the hotels and leisure industry. We are going to press with the business world facing uncertain times, perhaps more than usual. No Brexit deal...
Publication
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