Debenhams Takes Additional Space at Regent's Place

RNS Number : 3434C

British Land Co PLC

01 May 2012

 



Debenhams to Take Additional Space at British Land's Regent's Place

Retailer secures extra 29,500 sq ft of office space at new West End HQ

British Land announces today that Debenhams plc ("Debenhams") has agreed to pre-let a further 29,500 sq ft of office space at 10 Brock Street, Regent's Place, NW1. As a result, Debenhams has now agreed to pre-let 174,500 sq ft of office space, for a 25 year term without breaks, which is over half of the total space being developed at 10 Brock Street.

In September 2011, it was announced that Debenhams had decided to relocate its headquarters to 10 Brock Street, consolidating their existing offices in London into a single modern site. 10 Brock Street forms part of a 500,000 sq ft office, residential and retail development at the North East Quadrant (NEQ) of our Regent's Place estate in London's West End. The development which was started in 2010 is well underway and due to complete on schedule in 12 months time.

Debenhams is the latest in a diverse range of major occupiers to select Regent's Place for their main UK headquarters following recent lettings to Aegis Group, Gazprom, Lend Lease, Ricoh, and Dimensional Fund Advisors. The development of 10 Brock Street will complete our Regent's Place estate, which has been transformed over the last five years through major redevelopment and upgrades to the public spaces and retail offerings. On completion this development will have added 1 million sq ft of high quality space, including 760,000 sq ft of office space and 240,000 sq ft of residential units.

Tim Roberts, Head of Offices at British Land said, "It is hugely pleasing to be letting this additional space to Debenhams, in what is the largest pre-let in the West End for over six years. The confidence of major corporates such as Debenhams to select Regent's Place as the location for their headquarters is further evidence of the strength of the estate's appeal, services and amenities and of the increasing demand from occupiers for high quality office space."

Michael Sharp, Chief Executive of Debenhams plc said, "We are delighted to be taking more space at Regent's Place for our new headquarters. The estate's attributes are clear to see, being well positioned and featuring fantastic amenities, and we continue to work with British Land ahead of moving into the new offices in 2013."

Enquiries:

Investor Relations

Sally Jones, British Land                                                020 7467 2942

Media

Pip Wood, British Land                                                   020 7467 2838

Guy Lamming, Finsbury Group/                                       020 7251 3801

Gordon Simpson, Finsbury Group

Notes to Editors

About British Land

British Land is one of Europe's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with total assets, owned or managed, of £15.7 billion (British Land share £10.3 billion), as valued at 31 December 2011.  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 250 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 98% and average lease length to first break of 12 years are among the highest of the major UK REITs.

Retail assets account for 61% of our portfolio, over 80% of which are located at prime out-of-town sites. Comprising around 27 million sq ft of retail space across 91 retail warehouse properties, 99 superstores, 11 shopping centres and 10 department stores, the retail portfolio is generally modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats. Active asset management delivers attractive space to both retailers and consumers.

London offices, located in the City and West End, comprise 33% of the portfolio (rising to an estimated 38% on completion of current developments) with 7 million sq ft of office space including Broadgate, the premier City office campus (50% share) and Regent's Place in the West End.  We have committed £1.1 billion to create Central London's largest committed office development programme which will deliver 2.2 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.

Our size and substance demands a responsible approach to business and we focus on five areas which matter most to us and our key stakeholders: managing buildings efficiently; developing sustainable buildings; enhancing biodiversity; exceeding customers' expectations and focusing on local communities.  We believe leadership on issues such as sustainability helps drive our performance and is core to our corporate aim of building the best REIT in Europe.

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

 

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