Scottish law firm on recruitment drive after opening NW commercial property base

Scottish law firm, Aberdein Considine, has opened its first North West office, in Manchester’s Spinningfields.

Its Manchester commercial property practice is based in 3 Hardman Street and is the first step of its North West expansion.

The firm, founded in 1981 in Aberdeen and has 21 offices across Scotland and the North of England.

With clients including bakery chain Greggs, Italian make-up brand KIKO Milano, and Glasgow-based jeweller Rox, the firm sought an English base that was ideally located to support its clients across the UK and to help achieve Aberdein Considine’s ambition to double its turnover in England and Wales commercial real estate.

Partner and head of commercial real estate for England and Wales, Chris Richardson, who joined the firm in 2022 to lead the expansion, said: “It’s a hugely exciting step for us to be opening our new hub in Manchester, where we see opportunities to maximise growth within the commercial property sector.

“Having explored several cities as potential homes for the new office, we decided Manchester was the best place for us.

“The market in the North West is extremely buoyant – we already have several clients in Manchester and the surrounding area, spanning the retail, hospitality, and property development sectors, and our retail clients in particular want a law firm that can advise across the Scottish, English, and Welsh legal systems, which is a key speciality of ours.”

He added: “Our mission is to build a strong commercial real estate team here – we plan to double our team and our turnover over the coming year, and we will be recruiting for local solicitors with expertise in commercial property and retail.”

The firm recently hired its first solicitor based in Manchester, Idrees Naeem, who has a strong pedigree in commercial property. Having trained in London, Idrees moved to Manchester where he worked for an international law firm specialising in landlord and tenant matters, residential development, and commercial real estate.

He said: “I was most impressed by the extensive reach of the firm – although historically a Scottish business, we have since been acting for our clients in relation to prime central London real estate, cutting edge developments in the North West of England and everything in between. The calibre and expertise of the team is second to none.”