Acquisition of 2 - 14 Baker S

RNS Number : 2734K

British Land Co PLC

16 April 2010

 



                                                                                                                      16 April 2010

British Land Announces Acquisition of 2 - 14 Baker Street, W1, and Joint Development Agreement with McAleer & Rushe

British Land today announces that it has agreed to purchase 2 - 14 Baker Street, London W1 for redevelopment, from McAleer & Rushe for £29 million.  The building is situated in a prime location on the corner of Portman Square, just north of Oxford Street. The existing 93,000 sq ft property was built in the 1950s and is largely vacant.

Planning consent was granted in 2009 for a new 139,000 sq ft office with retail units at ground floor level.  Redevelopment is planned to start during the course of this year with completion in 2013. The total cost of development including land is expected to be around £100 million.

A joint development agreement has been entered into with McAleer & Rushe whereby British Land acts as the development manager and McAleer & Rushe, an established construction group based in Northern Ireland, is the contractor for the scheme. As part of the sale arrangement, McAleer & Rushe will take a share in the development profits.

Commenting on the acquisition, Tim Roberts, Head of Offices said, "This is a great opportunity for British Land to buy into one of the limited number of prime central London locations with planning consent at an early stage in the recovery cycle. We are optimistic about the outlook for rental growth in the West End office market and expect to generate strong returns as we leverage our development expertise. We look forward to working with McAleer & Rushe on this exciting project."

Eamonn Laverty Managing Director McAleer & Rushe Group said, "By working with British Land we have brought together a wealth of London office development and construction experience which we believe will produce one of the best office buildings in the coming market, whilst also achieving a development funding solution in this difficult economic climate."

Enquiries:

Investor Relations

Sally Jones, British Land                                                        020 7467 2942

Media

Pip Wood, British Land                                                           020 7467 2838

Ed Simpkins, Finsbury Group                                                 020 7251 3801

Gordon Simpson, Finsbury Group

Notes to Editors

About British Land 

British Land is one of the UK's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts with total assets, owned or under management, valued at £12.7 billion (British Land share £7.9 billion) as at 31 December 2009.  The hallmark of the business is a focus on customers, based on a portfolio in prime locations in the UK and more recently in Western Europe. Active management of these assets, purchases and sales and new development activity, tailor the property holdings to meet the needs of occupiers.  Retail assets account for 67% of the portfolio, 83% of which is located at prime out of town sites. Central London Offices comprise 31% of the portfolio.

About McAleer & Rushe

Founded in 1967 by current Chairman Seamus McAleer, the McAleer & Rushe Group is a privately owned and award winning Irish property development, investment and construction firm. The principle focus of the Company is high density city centre schemes where they are market leaders in the design and construction of hotel, office and apartment buildings. Over the last 15 years the Company has completed in excess of 10,000 bedrooms on 40 different hotel projects and 1.25m sq ft offices, during which they have built an enviable reputation for delivering high quality buildings on time and within budget. For more information please visit www.mcaleer-rushe.co.uk

 

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