PROPERTY FIRM OF THE YEAR | THE SHORTLIST DAY 4
The property sector has experienced mixed fortunes this year. While work on record-breaking skyscrapers has really picked up the pace, other projects have been left unfinished or even empty once completed. London has continued to enjoy the best conditions for investing and developing real estate – with nominees British Land, Land Securities and Heron among the biggest winners in the capital – but other firms like Capital Shopping Centres have made bold moves in the regions to cash in on signs of recovery.
BRITISH LAND
This City stalwart has enjoyed formidable growth this year, largely thanks to its savvy choices when investing and developing properties.
British Land became the first of the new Square Mile skyscraper club to secure a pre-let office tenant in May, when it signed up Aon for the Cheesegrater more than three years before the tower on Leadenhall Street is due to open.
The 155-year-old company led by Chris Grigg is also starting work on a new headquarters for UBS at Broadgate this summer, helping to notch up 2.2m square feet of new prime office space by 2014 and showing off the City’s mix of illustrious history and exciting new projects.
CAPITAL SHOPPING CENTRES
The UK’s largest mall owner would deserve a nomination solely for its flagship acquisition of the Trafford Centre for £1.6bn back in January.
But to pull off the country’s biggest ever single-property transaction while fending off protests and takeover advances from shareholder Simon Property is a double win for the steady hand of the firm’s management, led by chief executive David Fischel.
The deal done with Peel Holdings for the mall in Manchester represented an earnings-positive purchase at a sensible price, at a time when some rivals are playing cautious with the opportunities out there in retail real estate.
HINES
Privately-owned Hines has been making a real mark in London over the last year, with its 394,000 square foot Cannon Place project promising top-quality office space and new train station facilities later in 2011.
After acquiring the site in 2002, Hines has worked with Network Rail to complete the Foggo-designed building at a time of space shortages in the square mile. The firm is in talks with potential tenants and is expected to announce the first tranche soon.
The company, also known for its high-rise towers in US financial centres, has also been busy leasing out One Grafton Street in Mayfair and setting up a Dublin office to cash in on the rejigging of the banks there.
HERON INTERNATIONAL
Gerald Ronson’s Heron International has been involved in a wide range of major projects this year, from record-breaking towers to charity work.
The firm’s 36-storey residential tower near Moorgate began construction in 2013, and will be home to the Guildhall music school as well as dozens of luxury apartments once complete, while across the City on Bishopsgate, the Heron Tower has welcomed its first commercial tenants.
While real estate stalwart Ronson (also nominated for personality of the year) said in March he expects a patchy market for the remainder of 2011, his high-end properties seem to be doing a roaring trade.
The Heron Tower has racked up new tenants since it opened in March – among them the 1,300 tropical fish set to live in its entrance hall aquarium.
LAND
SECURITIES
A company needs to unveil something special before an analyst will use the words “blow-out”, but Land Securities’ results in May did just that. The firm wowed the market with a £1.23bn annual profit – a rise of almost 15 per cent at a time of nationwide uncertainty in the real estate business.
Chief executive Francis Salway has said the firm can afford to pick and choose its deals this year, having carefully nursed its balance sheet through the trough years.
And while the company has made outstanding gains across the country, the ascent of its iconic Walkie Talkie tower on Fenchurch Street is a welcome sign of top-notch office space on its way for the City.
The firm is also working on smaller-scale office projects in the Square Mile, to provide space before the blockbuster towers are ready.