New head of Real Estate for firm

King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin has hired Tom Calnan as head of Real Estate in the Middle East. Tom joins from Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and will be based in the firm’s Dubai office.

Calnanhas been based in Abu Dhabi since 2009, where he helped to launch BLP’s operations in the region, and worked on worked on a number of strategic and high-value projects. He specialises in commercial real estate and has significant experience of transactional property work, including investment acquisitions and disposals, hotels and leisure deals, landlord and tenant transactions and development work. Calnan also advises clients in relation to the real estate aspects of property finance and corporate finance transactions.

He has worked on a number of projects in the Middle East including advising Abu Dhabi Airports Company on the development and subsequent lease of a new Premier Inn hotel at Abu Dhabi International Airport; acting for Hyder Consulting/Capita Symonds in relation to a large scale community development in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi; and advising The Financial Times on its new office space at Twofour54 media zone, Abu Dhabi.