British Land Co PLC BLND Investment in Lancaster Retail Regeneration

  British Land Co PLC (BLND) - Investment in Lancaster Retail Regeneration

RNS Number : 2630S
British Land Co PLC
29 November 2012
 



 

            British Land Invests in Lancaster Retail Regeneration

                                       

British Land announces it has acquired the 2.3 acre Canal Corridor North  site 
in Lancaster  city  centre.   The  land  includes  the  former  Mitchell's  of 
Lancaster brewery.

 

A development agreement is also in  place with Lancaster City Council for  the 
acquisition of its  adjoining land  to enable  the delivery  of a  significant 
canal-side, mixed-use scheme across a 10 acre site. 

 

Bound to the east by  the Lancaster Canal and  with two working theatres,  the 
site, which is next to the city centre, provides the only real opportunity  to 
significantly improve the city's retail offer.

 

Richard Wise,  Head of  Retail Development  for British  Land, said:  "Working 
closely with  Lancaster City  Council  and English  Heritage,  our aim  is  to 
deliver a scheme  that complements the  site's historical setting.   Lancaster 
has seen very little retail investment over  the last two decades and we  look 
forward to creating a retail and leisure destination to serve local people and
attract significant numbers of visitors into the city.

 

"We are confident that a relatively modest initial investment could lead to  a 
future development with a targeted end value of over £75 million."

 

British Land  is continuing  to  assemble a  pipeline  of retail  projects  to 
develop in the  future.  Its  current retail pipeline  includes: the  recently 
announced £90 million  forward funding of  the Old Market  scheme in  Hereford 
city centre; the extension and  refurbishment of Surrey Quays Shopping  Centre 
in Canada Water; and  extensions at Fort Kinnaird  in Edinburgh and  Broughton 
Shopping  Park  in  Chester.   British  Land  and  USS  are  also   appraising 
opportunities to  extend and  enhance Eden  Walk Shopping  Centre in  Kingston 
which British Land acquired a 50% share in during July.

 

Retail development projects already underway include: the new build 320,000 sq
ft Whiteley Shopping Centre in Hampshire  which is already nearly 80%  pre-let 
and under offer and opens in spring 2013; and a 45,000 sq ft leisure extension
to Glasgow Fort  Shopping Park,  due for completion  in summer  2013 which  is 
fully pre-let.

 

 

                                     ENDS

 

Enquiries:

 

Investor Relations

Sally                  Jones,                   British                   Land 
                                                           020 7467 2942

 

Media

Jackie                            Whitaker,                            British 
Land                                                      020 7467 3449

Emma Hammond, FTI Consulting                                               020
7269 9347

 

Pip   Wood,   British   Land                                                   
             020 7467 2942

Gordon                            Simpson,                            Finsbury 
Group                                               020 7251 3801

 

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  £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.

 

                     This information is provided by RNS
           The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
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MSCBKFDNOBDDBDB -0- Nov/29/2012 07:00 GMT