Property Focus: The Interview – David Jameson

David Jameson is a partner in the property department at HLW McCombie commercial lawyers.

He qualified as a solicitor in 1985, and, after working for both DLA and Irwin Mitchell, joined hlw’s property department in 2002.

Mr Jameson advises on large-scale developments in the residential and industrial sector, and has built up a strong reputation in the leisure sector, acting for bars, restaurants and nightclubs.

1. What are your views of the current state of the commercial property and property development markets?

“It depends which market you are in. Investment transactions are few and far between at the moment, largely because people don’t think that we have reached the bottom of the market yet. And with the lack of access to capital, ongoing property development is fairly sparse too.

“In the residential market, some of the larger housebuilders are ahead of their expectations for the first quarter of the year in terms of sales, and there are specialist lenders out there who are prepared to lend on speculative developments. But it has to be the right product, and the right location.”

2. What key challenges and pieces of legislation do you think will most affect your sector over the coming months?

“The biggest challenge in the past year has been the changes in rules on rates for empty buildings. The new rates have forced landlords to do deals that they simply would not normally touch – such as offer their tenants substantial rent-free periods to get the building occupied.”

3. Why do you think Yorkshire is a good place to do business?

“The pragmatic attitude of developers and professionals makes it an ideal location place to do business.”

4. What is your favourite building/development in Yorkshire and why?

“The refurbishment of Sheffield station. That really has been a visionary project from start to finish, and I would hope that more cities in the region and beyond would find the wherewithal to do something similar. You only have to compare it to Leeds station to see what I mean.”

5. If you could improve anything in the region, what would it be?

“The roads. It is an absolute nightmare getting into Leeds at the moment. We should be improving the motorway network and the approach to the city from the south.”

6. What barriers have you had to overcome during your career and how have you overcome them?

“I was quite lucky when I first qualified. I was offered quite a few training contracts. It’s not like now. It’s much more competitive for graduates to enter the legal profession – particularly now as many of the larger firms are cutting back on available places.”

7. What was your first job and how did you enter your current line of work?

“My first job was selling kit cars during the summer vacations when I was at university. It was a fantastic position that let me drive a Spartan kit car, and I nearly didn’t leave it. In fact I started my legal training contract late because I enjoyed it so much.

“I studied law at Liverpool, chiefly because I did Classics for A-level at Doncaster Grammar and the teachers recommended it as a course. I moved into commercial property not long after I started out in DLA’s commercial department. I found I preferred our property clients because they are more entrepreneurial.”

8. What do you most enjoy about your job?

“The clients, naturally. I love dealing with the people and helping to resolve issues or help them to realise their ambitions.”

9. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

“A couple of years ago a broker friend of mine suggested that bank shares were not worth investing in. How right he was!”

10. And the worst?

“Being advised to put all my money in the Nationwide, because it was ‘bound to demutualise soon’. Fifteen years on I’m still waiting!”