British Land secures 465,000 square feet of London lettings as market turns
RECESSION-HIT London remains a magnet for office occupiers, property company British Land showed yesterday, after announcing 465,000 square feet of new lettings since February, hiking its occupancy to 92 per cent.
The real estate investment trust said it had let 117,000 square feet at its 10 Triton Street project in London’s West End to Aegis Group and a further 89,000 square feet of offices at 20 Triton Street to Gazprom Marketing & Trading.
Some 57 per cent of these two buildings are now occupied, the company said.
The lettings follow a clutch of earlier deals by the group in the West End area and nearby City of London, where a further 256,000 square feet of space was let to Macquarie Group, Gill Jennings & Every and Dickson Minto.
“The level of letting activity in the London office market has increased significantly in the first quarter,” said Tim Roberts, executive director and head of offices.
The company, which has completed five new office buildings in London over the past two years, said it continued to observe good levels of interest in its remaining vacant space.
Chris Grigg, chief executive, yesterday indicated that if City rents continue to improve the company would consider reviving the Cheesegrater, one of the City’s high-rise office projects that was pulled last year.