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Refurbishment plan in W1

Developer pursuing sites

Office redevelopments may follow sale

Margolis goes to Hatton Garden

GCP submit plans

LandSec refurbishment

More buildings at Eastbourne Terrace

Paddington office scheme planned

Work on new West End office begins

Great Portland space under offer

Hammerson to acquire Railtrack sites

Derwent Valley "subdued"

Redevelopment opportunity for LMS?

MWB sells Royal Victoria Dock site

BBC 'longlist' development consortia

MEPC includes Centre Point in portfolio sale

Wates City of London Properties sells four buildings

Scottish Widows gain Guardian portfolio

Sultan of Brunei to sell London portfolio?

BBC seeks property partner

City property sale?

Canary Wharf adds £288m to portfolio

MEPC to buy London properties from Scottish Widows

Property company gearing up

Helical Bar, the property company, is raising £29m to fund property acquisitions. The group said that the market opportinities it has been waiting for are arriving, as a number of interesting schemes become available. Helical Bar has been standing back from the development market since 2004/5. The development portfolio for this cycle includes 200 Aldersgate, White City and Mitre Square, EC3. - (10-12-2010)

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Hammerson sees rents rising

Hammerson is predicting that the London office market will see rents rise in 2006 and fewer incentives being on offer this year. Hammerson has one-third of its portfolio in offices and a vacancy rate of 28.3%, mainly because of its four central London buildings. The comments by John Richards, chief executive, were made as Hammerson announced that John Nelson, former chairman of Credite Suisse First Boston, is to become chairman of Hammerson at the end of September, when Ronald Spinney retires as chairman. - (01-03-2005)

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Hammerson predict rent rise

Hammerson is predicting a rise in office rents in the City of London in 2005, with John Richards, chief executive, being quoted as saying “Rent-free periods in the City will shorten this year and rents will rise next year”. City office buildings account for 20 per cent of the company’s UK portfolio and have seen a rise in value by 4.8% to £540.8m. In the West End rents were 5 per cent to 10 per cent higher than in 2003. Hammerson’s West End portfolio accounts for about 2 per cent of the company’s UK portfolio and saw a 12.8 per cent rise in value to £81.7m. - (25-08-2004)

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Glasnost - Online Project, Contact & Image Management

Canary Wharf is bid target

Canary Wharf Group, the London docklands developer, is said to have been approached by “a number of parties” to take the company private. On the news shares in the company rose 46% to 263p, valuing the company at £1.54m. The company has formed an independent committee to deal with any potential bids and analyse other options. Morgan Stanley Real Estate, British Land, Land Securities, and Brascan Corporation of Canada are rumoured to be interested in buying the portfolio. In the Sunday papers price indications from prospective bidders are reported to be around 270p, at the lower end of range predicted by analysts. - (08-06-2003)

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Rents to fall further says Helical Bar

Michael Slade, chief executive of devepment company Helical Bar is reported as saying that West End rents have further to fall before a 2005 recovery. Mr Slade puts vacancy rates in the City of London at 1993 levels and the West End at 1994 levels. Helical Bar has reduced its exposure to London offices through disposals worth £190m to 41% from 71% a year ago. Helical Bar has said that it is aiming to reduce London offices to 20% of it’s portfolio on expectations of a “flat year”. Mr Salde thinks that the time to come back into the London property market will be 2005 or 2006. - (08-06-2003)

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Canary Wharf raises £1.25bn

Canary Wharf Group, the property developer, issued new debt and increased the level of its asset-backed bonds by £1.25bn this week. The bonds are backed by rental cashflow from the Canary Wharf portfolio of 12 office buildings. Last year Canary Wharf raised £875m through an asset backed deal. On the basis of this deal it would appear that the securitisation of 'trophy' real estate developments has not been affected by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre. - (13-02-2002)

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Architect Seifert dies

Richard Seifert, the architect who designed Centre Point and the NatWest Tower, now known as Tower 42, has died aged 90. Centre Point, constructed on a small plot, is still believed to be the world's tallest prefabricated building. A controversial development in design terms Centre Point also came to be regarded as the worse example of development greed as the building remained empty for years while rental values increased. The NatWest building in its plan shape is remarkably similar to the National Westminster logo, although any deliberate intention in 'mirroring' the design was always denied. After the second world war Siefert became one of the UK's most prolific architects and the two buildings formed just a small part of his extensive portfolio. - (27-10-2001)

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Berkeley Square estate sold

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nanyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, and head of the Abu Dhabi royal family, is said to be the mystery buyer for BP Amoco's Berkeley Square estate in London W1. Sheikh Zayed is thought to have paid around £325m for the portfolio of 100 buildings. London based Capital Trust is believed to have fronted the deal for Sheikh Zayed. CB Hillier Parker is expected to manage the portfolio. - (11-06-2001)

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Canary in £875m bond issues

Canary Wharf Group has issued £875m of bonds in a deal that will securitise three buildings under construction at the Docklands complex. The bonds are secured on the rents from the two pre-let towers being built for Citigroup and Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. The deal adds the three buildings to a securitised portfolio that also includes One Canada Square, from which the company raised about £555m in 1997 and £385m in 2000. - (02-06-2001)

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British Land may raise up to £1.5bn

British Land is said to be considering plan to raise up to £1.5bn to fund its development programme. The funds could be raised in a series of securitisations of its retail portfolio, which includes the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield. The group is also thought to be looking at ways to refinance much of its office portfolio in London. British Land is expected to give further details of its plans when it announces full year results at the end of the month. - (20-05-2001)

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Skanska sells to Axa Sun Life

Skanska, the Anglo-Swedish construction group, has sold its last two investment properties in London to AXA Sun Life for just under £91m. The two developments are at Thomas More Square, E1 and 55 King William Street, EC4. The 22,000 sq m (236,840 sq ft) Trinity Tower at Thomas More Square, overlooking St. Katharine Docks, completes the bulk of Skanska's sale of the development, which began last year. The King William Street property comprises 5,839 sq m (62,859 sq ft) of offices with some retail and leisure uses. Frederick Wirdenius, President of Skanska's Project Development Europe said: ‘These two sales, which made a profit for Skanska of £34 million, represent the completion of Skanska's divesting of its real estate portfolio in London. It also creates possibilities for continued investments in other attractive growth areas in Europe.’ - (11-05-2001)

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BT to leave Newgate Street

British Telecom is to leave its purpose built 27,870 sq m (300,000 sq ft) headquarters building at Newgate Street, London EC1 in the next 12-18 months. Staff will be transferred to other divisions in BT buildings and the 400-500 'central activities' staff and executives will move to a smaller office in London. The Newgate Street head office and the Telecom Tower were the only buildings omitted from the £2bn property portfolio deal announced last month. - (04-05-2001)

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BT may sell portflio to LandSec's

British Telecom is said to be close to arranging a sale and leaseback deal on its £2bn property portfolio with Land Securities. Land Securities is rumoured to have beaten Mapeley to the deal. In what is thought to be a speeding up of the process BT may now complete its £2bn portfolio sale and leaseback deal by summer 2001. BT's advisor Schroder Salomon Smith Barney is understood to have recently shortlisted Land Securities Trillium and Mapeley, the George Soros backed venture, as the final two bidders for the 7,500 sites in the UK. Oftel, the telephone regulator, has set restrictions on BT's ability to sell sites and they are to be leased to the successful bidders for 130-years and then leased back by BT on 30-year agreements. The leases are understood to have break options for BT to vacate premises after 15-years, providing redevelopment opportunities for central London sites such as Mondial House, Upper Thames Street and Fleet Building, Farringdon Street, both in EC4 - (09-04-2001)

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British Land may be in lead for Mayfair estate

British Land is now said to be the front runner to buy the 10-acre Berkeley Square estate in Mayfair W1 from the BP Pension fund. It is thought that an offer of around £300m has been made by the company that is on a shortlist of bidders that may also include the Barclay twins and Moorfield, the property group, Simon Hallabi, a Syrian-born investor, Grosvenor Estates, and the Saudi Arabian Royal family. The BP Pension fund acquired the portfolio in 1967 for around £12m. The sale is being dealt with by Richard Womack at CB Hillier Parker. It is said that unsuccessful bids have been made by Minerva, Benchmark, and Green Properties and an unnamed US investment bank. - (09-04-2001)

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Benchmark bid for BP Amoco portfolio

Benchmark is reported to have bid nearly £300m for the 100 properties around Berkeley Square, London W1, put up for sale by the BP Amoco pension fund. Other bids submitted last week are said to include those from Minerva and the Grosvenor Estate. BP Amoco is holding the property auction at a time when headline rents in the area are passing £861 per sq m (£80 per sq ft). - (25-03-2001)

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BBC prefers Land Securities

The BBC has announced that Land Securities Trillium as the preferred bidder in its proposed property partnership. Land Securities submitted a joint bid with Trillium, the outsourcing group, last year. The Land Securities team is also understood to include Bovis Lend Lease. The BBC's reserve bidder is Amey. If Land Securities/Trillium secure the deal the first project is likely to be the £200m development of the White City site in London W12, which could provide 60,000 sq m (645,840 sq ft). The Grade II listed Broadcasting House in Langham Place, London W4 is included in the property portfolio and the BBC is also said to be renegotiating its lease on Bush House, Aldwych, London WC2, which expires in 2005, and could be a refurbishment project. - (25-03-2001)

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BBC to extend Broadcasting House

The BBC is to bring its news operations, with 2,200 staff, into one centre at Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London W1. A new building, will be developed on the site of two existing 1960's office blocks, Egton House and 16 Langham Street. The new centre will be completed in 2008 and include 4,645 sq m (50,000 sq ft) of publicly accessible space. The BBC World Service, with 1,100 staff, will vacate Bush House in the Aldwych, London WC2 and move to the extended Broadcasting House a 1930's Grade II listed building. Architect MacCormac Jamieson Prichard has been commissioned to design the 'state-of-the-art centre. The redevelopment is likely to be carried out as a joint venture with the winning bidder for the BBC's property portfolio. - (01-11-2000)

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MEPC may sell London properties

MEPC, the property company, is said to be close to completing the sale of several London properties to Benchmark for around £250m. The deal could see London overtake Tokyo as the city with the highest office prices. Benchmark is said to have an exclusivity agreement on the portfolio, which includes a 18,580 sq m (200,000 sq ft) block near Cambridge Circus, 90 Long Acre and 12 St James's Square. The Cambridge Circus building is priced at £80m and is let to BT, with about four years remaining on the lease. The property is seen as a possible refurbishment or redevelopment opportunity. The Long Acre building is partly owned by property group Asticus and is priced at £70m. 12 St James's Square, MEPC's former headquarters, is priced at £56m. - (08-10-2000)

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Company Details for Portfolio Holdings