?64m Whiteley Retail Development Committed to

RNS Number : 1773T

British Land Co PLC

02 December 2011

 



2 December 2011

BRITISH LAND AND USS CONFIRM COMMITMENT TO £64 MILLION

WHITELEY RETAIL DEVELOPMENT

British Land and Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USS) are pleased to confirm their commitment to the development of the 300,000 sq ft Whiteley Shopping Centre in South Hampshire.  Lettings at the £64 million development have now reached 50% by floor area, with M&S (60,000 sq ft) and Next (19,500 sq ft) committing to anchor the scheme.

The shopping centre, which is set to open in spring 2013, will comprise over 50 units totalling 242,000 sq ft of retail space, 58,000 sq ft of restaurants, cafés and other facilities and 1,136 free car park spaces.  Other pre-lets include H&M (18,200 sq ft), Boots (12,300 sq ft), JD Sports (6,800 sq ft), Bank (6,300 sq ft), Sports Direct (10,700 sq ft), Frankie & Benny's (4,000 sq ft) and Starbucks (2,500 sq ft).

Designed by architect Corstophine and Wright, Whiteley Shopping Centre will serve a large and affluent catchment of 1.2 million people with an estimated £3.1 billion of potential spend.  The catchment is set to expand further in the foreseeable future with 3,000 new homes at North Whiteley. 

The development will transform the existing outlet scheme into a significant shopping centre destination, featuring contemporary shop units with double height glazing and oak panels centred around a new town square.  Situated between the two harbour cities of Portsmouth and Southampton, and adjacent to an existing Tesco supermarket, the scheme benefits from excellent accessibility via Junction 9 of the M27.

Charles Maudsley, Head of Retail for British Land, said: "Whiteley has the success factors we look for in all our schemes: dominance and accessibility; affordability; good unit configuration and flexibility; and an excellent overall shopping environment. "British Land will concentrate on developing mid-sized, urban retail schemes like Whiteley and leveraging our ability, experience and financial strength to create incremental value.  We have the right strategy to develop successfully and exploit future demand for the right space."

Graham Burnett, Head of Property for USS added: "Achieving this level of pre-lets in the current challenging climate is testament to both the high quality of the scheme and the strength of the combined team. Whiteley will provide an excellent shopping experience which, importantly, will include independent local retailers and new community facilities.  Its sustainability credentials will also be very strong, as evidenced by the development's BREEAM 'Excellent' accreditation."

Enabling works are currently nearing completion with main construction scheduled to begin on site in early 2012.  Completion is projected for spring 2013.

Enquiries:

British Land:

Investor Relations

Sally Jones, British Land                                                            020 7467 2942

Media

Pip Wood, British Land                                                               020 7467 2838

Guy Lamming/ Gordon Simpson, Finsbury                                   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 £15.6 billion (British Land share £10.2 billion), as valued at 30 September 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 62% 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, 12 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 37% 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 are investing £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

About USS

USS is one of largest private sector pension funds in the UK with property assets totalling approximately £2.6bn. USS has acquired in excess of £1 billion of commercial and residential property over the last two years. www.uss.co.uk.

 

END

 

 

MSCLLFSFFRLLIIL