Two New Office Lettings Secured

RNS Number : 5075R

British Land Co PLC

20 November 2012

 



BRITISH LAND SECURES TWO NEW OFFICE LETTINGS IN CITY AND WEST END

British Land sign Aspect Capital at 10 Portman Square and

British Land and Blackstone sign up Hill Dickinson at Broadgate Tower

British Land has announced the first letting at its West End development 10 Portman Square.  Investment manager Aspect Capital will take up 24,520 sq ft of office space on the top two floors of the seven storey building.

10 Portman Square, located in London's West End comprises of 113,000 sq ft of modern office space over seven floors.  The building features a curved roof providing open terraces to the fifth and seventh floor, while unique floor to ceiling glazing allows natural light to pour in from every direction. 

British Land and Blackstone have also announced that global law firm Hill Dickinson has agreed to let 32,000 sq ft of office space at the Broadgate Tower.  The firm has agreed a ten year lease and are set to occupy levels six, seven and part of level eight of the 33-storey tower located in the heart of London's financial district.

Headline rents for the deal are £43.50 per sq ft on levels six and seven, and £47.50 per sq ft on level eight.  Hill Dickinson also has the option to acquire the remaining 5,400 sq ft of office space on level eight. 

The new letting means that the Broadgate Tower is now approximately 92% occupied, leaving just over 34,000 sq ft of vacant space remaining. Overall occupancy at Broadgate is 94.7%. The 35-storey 397,000 sq ft Broadgate Tower is the City's fourth tallest building rising to a height of 165m (540 ft) and offering stunning views across the London skyline.

Tim Roberts, Head of Offices at British Land said: "These lettings continue to show British Land's ability to provide quality buildings that modern businesses want to occupy and is why our portfolio lets so well. Broadgate's ability to attract firms of the calibre of Hill Dickinson reinforces its position as the premier office estate in the City, offering an appealing mix of first class office space and excellent on site amenities and services.

"In our development programme we have transformed an old building facing onto Baker Street into a prime location on Portman Square and developed it to a high standard. Aspect Capital join a number of other leading companies securing space in our developments which are now 56 per cent pre-let."

CBRE advised Hill Dickinson in the transaction, while Jones Lang LaSalle and Knight Frank acted on behalf of British Land and Blackstone.

Enquiries:

Investor Relations

Sally Jones, British Land                                                           020 7467 2942

Media

Ant Moore, FTI Consulting                                                         020 7269 7267

Sue Brown, FTI Consulting                                                        020 7269 9341

Pip Wood, British Land                                                             020 7467 2942

Gordon Simpson, Finsbury Group                                              020 7251 3801

About Broadgate

Situated in the heart of the City of London's Square Mile, Broadgate is much more than a geographical area.  It's a dynamic, thriving business community, home to some of the world's biggest corporations and top professional practices where over 30,000 people work each day. There are five distinct areas that make up Broadgate; Broadgate Circle, Exchange Square, Broadgate Plaza, Finsbury Avenue Square and Bishopsgate.  The squares, terraces, colonnades and piazzas provide a perfect setting for people to meet, eat, talk, shop, enjoy the entertainment on offer or merely watch the world go by.

http://www.broadgate.co.uk/

About British Land 

British Land is one of Europe's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with total assets, owned or managed, of £16.3 billion (British Land share £10.4 billion), as valued at 30 September 2012. Through our property and finance expertise we attract experienced partners to create properties and environments which are home to over 1,000 different organisations and visited by over 300 million people each year. Our property portfolio is focused on prime retail locations and Central London offices which attract high quality occupiers committed to long leases. Our occupancy rate of 97.3% and average lease length to first break of 11.1 years are among the highest of the major UK REITs.

Retail assets account for 60% of our portfolio with around 28 million sq ft of retail space across 82 retail parks, 92 superstores, 13 shopping centres and 9 department stores.  The retail portfolio is modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats and our active asset management delivers space which is attractive and meets the needs of both retailers and consumers.  80% of our retail parks have open A1 consent.

London offices, located in the City and West End, comprise 35% of the portfolio (which will rise to an estimated 40% on completion of current developments).  Our 7 million sq ft of high quality offices includes Broadgate, the premier City office campus (50% share) and Regent's Place in the West End.  Over the last 2 years, we have committed £1.2 billion to create Central London's largest committed office development programme which will deliver 2.3 million sq ft of high quality space by 2014, including a 700,000 sq ft building at 5 Broadgate, the 610,000 sq ft Leadenhall Building in London's insurance district and a 500,000 sq ft mixed office and residential scheme at Regent's Place in the West End.

Managing our environmental, economic and social impacts is central to the way we do business and deliver value for our shareholders.  We assess the issues that matter most to us and our stakeholders on an on-going basis and, where appropriate, adjust our strategic focus to reflect this.  We focus on managing our buildings efficiently, supporting communities, developing sustainable buildings and engaging our staff.  For each of these priorities we are targeting our efforts and resources at initiatives where we can achieve the biggest impacts.

Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com

 

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