Health law firm, Hill Dickinson, has announced the appointment of real estate Partner James Atkins, who joins the firm’s Leeds office as its National head of Health Real Estate.
An experienced health real estate lawyer, James Atkins was previously a Health Real Estate partner and head of Bevan Brittan’s Leeds office. The author of many standard legal documents currently used by national NHS bodies, he has advised a wide range of organisations – including NHS and independent healthcare providers, national NHS organisations, local commissioning bodies, and developers of health infrastructure.
In addition to managing routine estates work for a range of NHS organisations, he also advises on innovative or complex health infrastructure development, the reconfiguration of health estate, and projects involving the disposal of former NHS facilities – including the imposition of overage and clawback arrangements. He is a leading specialist on the rules for funding and development of primary care premises, and regularly advises commissioners and GPs on their application. Hill Dickinson says he has also been at the forefront of the development of integrated health and wellbeing facilities, often by joint venture arrangement between the NHS and local authorities.
Welcoming him to the business, Andrew Craggs, head of the firm’s Health Group, said: “We have added significant capacity to our health real estate team in the past 12 months – to the point that it is now a substantial revenue generator for the firm in its own right. Appointing James to head up the team with a brief to lead and further develop our growth strategy is our next step forward, and we are delighted to have him on board. He will head a growing national team that has already seen a number of appointments in recent months, including Partner, Emma Brecknock, senior associate, Rachel Jones in Leeds, and Partner, Andrea Proudlock, in Newcastle.