British Land acquires Surrey Quays Leisure Park

RNS Number : 1660G

British Land Co PLC

02 March 2015

 



British Land acquires Surrey Quays Leisure Park for  £135 million

British Land announces it has acquired Surrey Quays Leisure Park in Canada Water for £135 million from clients of Aviva Investors. 

This acquisition completes our assembly strategy at Canada Water where we also own Surrey Quays Shopping Centre and Harmsworth Quays, the former Daily Mail General Trust printing works. The combined sites, which we have assembled over the last five years for a total investment of £250 million, cover nearly 50 acres creating one of the largest mixed use regeneration projects in London.

Canada Water has excellent existing transport infrastructure with Canada Water and Surrey Quays stations providing quick transfer times via the London Overground and the Jubilee Line to the City, Canary Wharf and the West End. The area will also benefit from the opening of Crossrail at Canary Wharf in 2018 which is one stop away on the Jubilee line.

We are working with Southwark Council on the Canada Water Masterplan to create a new mixed use town centre for the area.  Architects Allies & Morrison have been appointed to advise as masterplanners for the scheme, which could include up to 7 million sq ft of office, retail, leisure, culture and residential space alongside higher educational and community uses.

Chris Grigg, Chief Executive of British Land, said:  "This acquisition completes our assembly of a significant £2 billion world-class development opportunity in the heart of one of London's major regeneration zones. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Southwark Council to create a vibrant new mixed use office, retail and residential campus for Canada Water including a new town centre."

Jonathan East, Aviva Investors said: 'We are pleased to have completed the sale of Surrey Quays Leisure Park to British Land which has enabled us to secure a strong return for our policyholders. Having laid the groundwork for a comprehensive redevelopment of the site we were able to benefit from the buoyant market for residential sites around London, particularly for such a large site in a recognised area of opportunity.  Having been involved since funding the original development of the leisure park in 1996, we have witnessed significant changes to Canada Water over the years. British Land have ambitious plans for the area and we are happy to hand the baton over to them to progress the comprehensive regeneration."

JLL advised Aviva Investors.

Enquiries:

Investor Relations
Sally Jones, British Land	020 7467 2942
Media
Pip Wood, British Land	020 7467 2838
Jackie Whitaker, British Land	020 7467 3449
Gordon Simpson, Finsbury Group	020 7251 3801

Notes to Editors

About British Land

We are one of Europe's largest publicly listed real estate companies. We own, manage, develop and finance a portfolio of high quality commercial property, focused on retail locations around the UK and London Offices & Residential. We have total assets in the UK, owned or managed of £19.0 billion (British Land share of which is £12.8 billion), as valued at 30 September 2014. Our properties are home to over 1,000 different organisations and receive over 340 million visits each year. Our objective is to deliver long-term and sustainable total returns to our shareholders and we do this by focusing on Places People Prefer. People have a choice where they work, shop and live and we aim to create outstanding places which make a positive difference to people's everyday lives. Our customer orientation enables us to develop a deep understanding of the people who use our places. We employ a lean team of experts, who have the skills to translate this understanding into creating the right places, and we have an efficient capital structure which is able to effectively finance these places.

UK Retail assets account for 54% of our portfolio. As the UK's largest listed owner and manager of retail space, our portfolio is well matched to the different ways people shop today, from major regional shopping centres to single occupier locations. We are focused on being the destination of choice for retailers and their customers by being the best provider of spaces and services. Comprising around 25 million sq ft of retail space across retail parks, superstores, shopping centres, department stores and leisure assets, the retail portfolio is modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats.

Our Office and Residential portfolio, which accounts for 46% of our portfolio is focused on London.  We have an attractive mix of high quality buildings in well managed environments and a pipeline of development projects which will add significantly to our portfolio. Increasingly, our offices are in mixed-use environments which include retail and residential elements. Our 7.9 million sq ft of high quality office space includes Regent's Place and Paddington Central in the West End and Broadgate, the premier city office campus (50% share).

Our size and substance demands a responsible approach to business. We believe leadership on issues such as sustainability helps drive our performance and is core to the delivery of our overall objective of driving shareholder value and creating Places People Prefer.

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

About Aviva Investors

Aviva Investors is the global asset management business of Aviva plc. The business delivers investment management solutions, services and client-driven performance to clients worldwide. Aviva Investors operates in 15 countries in Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and the United Kingdom with assets under management of £240 billion as at 30 September 2014.

 

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