Melanie Henson

Melanie joined Coodes as a partner in 2025 from Baker Botts (UK) LLP (the London branch of American law firm, Baker Botts). There she specialised in the development of renewable energy sites acting for a number of operators acquiring and developing sites in the UK. She also acted on the real estate side of various financing projects.

Prior to that she worked as senior counsel for property at O2 where she had responsibility for the company’s extensive nationwide portfolios of office buildings, retail stores and mast sites. She was involved in acting on the real estate side of a number of significant deals whilst there including:

• Acquisition of key offices and flagship retail stores
• Portfolio sales and acquisitions of retail stores

Melanie trained at City of London law firm Dentons and was previously a partner in City of London firm Berwin Leighton Paisner and Speechlys. For many years she specialised in supermarket and retail development acting for Sainsburys, Tesco and Lidl in acquiring and developing their own supermarkets and retail parks. She has also acted on the acquisition of landmark London buildings, acted for shopping centre owners managing and selling shopping centre investments and developers of retail and office parks. She has broad experience in all aspects of property sales and purchases, leases, the property aspects of corporate matters and property portfolio management.

Notable Commercial Property cases

• Retail
  

  Acting for:

  • 02 on the acquisition of flagship retail stores
  • 02 on various store portfolio acquisitions and sales
  • The Mall Corporation on the management of two central London shopping centres (including granting and renewing leases and the particular redevelopment of units and communal areas)
  • A designer fashion label on its acquisition of a new flagship central London store

• Acquisition
  

  Acting for international investors acquiring a landmark central London property including obtaining finance and a complex stamp duty saving scheme.

• Corporate, Commercial and Technology
  

  Acting for:

  • the real estate side of O2’s network sharing deal with Vodafone
  • O2’s naming rights agreement for the former Millennium dome
  • the property aspects of an intended IPO
  • various multiple mast site agreements with mast site providers
  • the acquisition of a steel making business by international clients which taking leases of multiple works sites in the UK with options to purchase the freeholds.