Ben Henry

Ben Henry leads Locke Lord’s Real Estate team in London and is one of the most experienced data centre lawyers in the United Kingdom.

Ben has a varied commercial real estate practice, which includes the representation of clients on investment, development and leasing transactions. He also has experience in the retail sector and has acted for a number of multinational corporations in relocating their UK corporate headquarters.

For over a decade, Ben’s main focus has been the international data centre sector. He represents a diverse range of clients in the industry, including end-users, operators, developers and investors.

Ben’s data centre transactional experience encompasses more than 75 jurisdictions. He also leads the Firm’s multidisciplined International Data Centers Practice, comprising 30+ lawyers across most of the Firm’s network of offices.

In addition to his legal practice, Ben currently serves on the Firm’s Board of Directors and is a member of the UK Executive Committee.

His experience includes:

Data Centres

• Acts for one of the world's leading telecommunications and media companies on its global data centre and corporate real estate requirements
• Acts for an international data centre operator on purchasing and leasing sites in Europe and Asia
• Acts for a major UK data centre operator on the acquisition, development, leasing and customer contracts relating to its facilities in the London area
• Acts for a global provider of financial market data on its data centre space requirements. Recent transactions include sites in London, Singapore, New York, Missouri and Wisconsin
• Acted for an investor on the purchase (out of insolvency), lease re-gear and sale of BT's primary UK data centre
• Acted for a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund on the acquisition and development of a site in Dublin which was wholly leased to a hyperscale cloud company

UK Headquarters Relocations

• Acted on the UK headquarters relocations for various companies, including:
  • A multinational telecommunications company
  • A global confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate
  • An international leader in payments processing technology
  • An energy drinks company
  • A major German-based sportswear manufacturer

Investment/Development

• Acted for a large Asian insurance company on the acquisition of the Lloyd’s Building for £260 million
• Acted for a New York-headquartered private real estate investment firm on the acquisition of Old Spitalfields Market for £100 million
• Acted for a real estate investment platform based in London on the forward purchases of: Travelodge, Tower Hill, London (£26 million); Tesco Extra, St James, Corby (£42 million); Legoland Hotel, Legoland Theme Park, Windsor (£19 million); and the Marks & Spencer East Midlands Distribution Centre, Castle Donington (£69 million)
• Acted for the pension fund of a British multinational food processing and retailing company on the forward funding of the Travelodge Hotel, ExCel, London