Law firm expands lease and presence at Preston offices

Forbes Solicitors, the full-service law firm, has signed a 10-year lease at its Gordon House site, in Preston.

The extension to the existing lease will create the firm’s largest office space for 200 of its staff.

Having been based in Gordon House, at Walton Summit, since 2019, the new lease sees Forbes expand its presence in the offices from 8,000 sq ft to around 32,000 sq ft. The firm is leasing four floors and relocating staff from its existing Oak House head office.

Pauline Wild, Managing Partner at Forbes Solicitors, said: “Previously, our Walton Summit-based staff worked across two offices. This was an unintended result of firm growth and we’ve spent the last 12 months looking at options for creating a more united team.

“Our different practices work in close collaboration to support clients across a variety of interests and bringing them together in one larger office will enable us to do this even more effectively.”

She added: “Gordon House has excellent transport links and is well located to connect staff with our other offices across Lancashire and the North of England, as well as clients throughout the region and nationally.”

The team will move into Gordon House in February, with the office becoming home to Forbes’s teams including Commercial, Corporate, Commercial Property, Commercial Litigation, Property Litigation, Housing Litigation, Housing Property, Insolvency and Debt, Employment, Governance, Procurement and Information, Marketing and Business Development, and the firm’s executive board.

Following the expansion of the Gordon House lease and relocation of staff, Forbes will have 11 offices, including locations in key cities Manchester, Leeds, and London. The firm employs nearly 400 people and has 59 partners.

The landlord of Gordon House is Gordon House (Guernsey) Limited.