?40m Leisure Development at Drake Circus, Plymouth

RNS Number : 8965S

British Land Co PLC

30 September 2014

 



30 September 2014

British Land Takes Drake Circus, Plymouth to the Next Stage with £40m Leisure Development

British Land announces that it has signed an agreement with Plymouth City Council to develop Drake Circus Leisure, a circa 100,000 sq ft leisure scheme next to its 570,000 sq ft Drake Circus Shopping Centre in Plymouth city centre.  The £40 million development will include a 12 screen cinema operated by Cineworld, 13 restaurant units and 450 car park spaces. The site currently houses a coach station which will be relocated.

A detailed planning application for the scheme is now being developed and will be submitted in early 2015. 

The leisure development will complement Drake Circus Shopping Centre, broadening its appeal, establishing it as an evening destination and extending its trading hours.  Since its acquisition by British Land in 2011, Drake Circus has successfully attracted a range of brands, including Apple, Fat Face and Yo! Sushi.  10,000 sq ft of lettings were agreed recently; adding new brands such as schuh Kids, Boux Avenue, Regus Express and Ed's Easy Diner, and bringing occupancy to 100%.

David Pollock, Retail Development Director for British Land, said: "Plymouth has a very strong local catchment, and a vibrant and successful city centre, which will be further enhanced by our investment.  The proposed leisure scheme creates an opportunity to take Drake Circus to the next level, and with a number of new brands added, is a very strong example of our strategy to create Places People Prefer.  We are delighted to be working with Plymouth City Council on this project to establish Drake Circus as the West Country's retail and leisure destination of choice."

Plymouth has a large and affluent catchment of 560,000 people and benefits from a thriving tourist trade which welcomes 3.4 million visitors annually. The catchment has a comparison goods spend of £1.4 billion and £103 million catering spend potential.

Corstorphine + Wright is the architect and Wareing & Partners is the letting agent for Drake Circus Leisure.

ENDS

Enquiries:

Investor Relations

Sally Jones, British Land                                                  020 7467 2942

Media

Jackie Whitaker, British Land                                           020 7467 3449

Emma Hammond, FTI Consulting                                      020 3727 1227

Pip Wood, British Land                                                    020 7467 2942

Gordon Simpson, Finsbury Group                                     020 7251 3801

Notes to Editors

About Drake Circus Shopping Centre

The shopping centre has over 70 shops and restaurants and 1,270 car park spaces and attracts 18 million visitors a year. It is anchored by M&S, Primark and Next and all three are the largest stores in their group west of Bristol. Other retailers include Apple, Fat Face, Topshop/Topman, Hotel Chocolat, schuh, Jones Bootmaker, Superdry, H&M, New Look and River Island.

Following 10,000 sq ft, of recent lettings, the centre is now fully let.  The following will join the scheme before Christmas, and most are brands new to Plymouth:

·      schuh Kids (3,300 sq ft / 10 year lease)

·      Boux Avenue (3,700 sq ft / 10 year lease)

·      Regus Express (2,400 sq ft / 10 year lease)

·      Ed's Easy Diner (1,900 sq ft / 15 year lease)

·      Warren James (600 sq ft / 10 year lease)

·      local nail bar Satori (1,200 sq ft / 10 year lease)

·      Fuel Juice Bars (900 sq ft / 15 year lease) and

·      Mr Pretzels (kiosk / 5 year lease)

Drakes Fine Jewellers has also increased its existing presence at the centre by taking a new 2,000 sq ft unit on a 10 year lease and a 1,100 sq ft store which will trade as Pandora. Monsoon has also regeared its existing lease on 7,200 sq ft of space and will fully refit the store and introduce the Accessorize brand.

The letting agents for Drake Circus Shopping Centre are Cushman & Wakefield and Smith Young.

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 £17.8 billion (British Land share of which is £12.0 billion), as valued at 31 March 2014. Our properties are home to over 1,000 different organisations and receive over 300 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 53% 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 66 retail parks, 85 superstores, 15 shopping centres, 12 department stores and 77 leisure assets, the retail portfolio is modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats.

Our Office and Residential portfolio, which accounts for 47% 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 7.3 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.

 

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