New London Office Lettings

RNS Number : 4647J

British Land Co PLC

31 March 2010

 



Wednesday 31 March, 2010

British Land lets 10 Triton Street, Regent's Place, to Aegis bringing total new lettings in recently completed London office developments to 465,000 sq ft

British Land has signed a total of 465,000 sq ft of new lettings at its recently completed London office developments since the announcement of its third quarter results in February, with an additional 154,000 sq ft under offer. Together the new lettings increase the Group's overall office occupancy rate from 84% to 92% and have a weighted average lease length of 15 years to first break. The terms agreed exceed the December 2009 estimated rental values ("ERV"), and add an additional £19 million of headline rent per annum to the Group.

At Regent's Place in the West End the whole of 10 Triton Street (117,000 sq ft) has been let to Aegis Group plc and at 20 Triton Street, 89,000 sq ft has been let to Gazprom Marketing & Trading Limited and a further 30,000 sq ft is under offer. In total, 57% of these two new buildings have now been let.

In the last two months the following lettings within the City portfolio have also been completed or agreed:

·     At Broadgate Tower, part of the Broadgate JV with Blackstone, 39,000 sq ft has been let to Gill Jennings & Every LLP and Dickson Minto bringing the total occupancy to 72%.

·     At Ropemaker, the letting of 217,000 sq ft to Macquarie Group was announced in February and a further 86,000 sq ft is currently under offer. 

·     At 201 Bishopsgate, 38,000 sq ft is under offer.

Over the last two years British Land has completed five new office buildings in the City and West End adding 1.7 million sq ft of modern Grade A space to the Group's prime office portfolio.

Tim Roberts, Executive Director and Head of Offices, said: "The level of letting activity in the London office market has increased significantly in the first quarter. We've seen rental values firming with all of our recent deals accretive to value. Our office portfolio is now 92% let with an average lease length of nine years to first break. We continue to see good levels of interest in our remaining space and are optimistic about the outlook given the shortage of high quality prime Grade A space over the next few years."

Enquiries:

Media

Pip Wood, British Land                                                           020 7467 2838

Ed Simpkins, Finsbury                                                            020 7251 3801

Gordon Simpson, Finsbury

Investors

Sally Jones, British Land                                                        020 7467 2942

Notes to Editors

·      British Land is one of the UK's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts ("REITs") with total assets, owned or under management, valued at £12.7 billion (British Land's share £7.9 billion), as at 31st December 2009.

·      Of the 1.7 million sq ft of London office developments completed over the last two years, some 165,000 sq ft in the City and 125,000 sq ft the West End remains available to let. (This excludes space currently under offer.)

·      In addition to the above lettings, these recent developments already include major financial and business service occupiers such as: Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP and Henderson Group plc (201 Bishopsgate, 50% owned); Reed Smith Richards Butler LLP (Broadgate Tower, 50% owned); The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. and Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International plc (Ropemaker Place)

·     Sustainability is at the core of our business - from community involvement in the planning process, through development, refurbishment and management - and the aim is to provide attractive buildings that minimise resource use and meet the needs of occupiers today and tomorrow. All five new office buildings have impressive sustainability credentials and have achieved a BREEAM "Excellent" rating. In addition, Ropemaker Place is the first building in Europe to achieve precertification for LEED "Platinum". 

 

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