British Land to spend £500 million on office space and kick start stalled development plans

Real estate investor British Land Co. plans to spend almost £500 million on building offices in Central London.

Offices in Regents Place and Broadgate will be built and plans to restart construction work on the 47-story Leadenhall tower are also up and running.The Regents place estate will take up over £230 million of the budget and£175 million, due to be spent in London’s Broadgate financial district, will create new offices for financial company UBS.

Chris Grigg Chief Executive Officer said: “People including us see a shortage of new product in the London market in 2013, so this is timed specifically to address that gap”.

A break in London construction work led to a fall in available offices causing rents to rise. This is proving to be beneficial for developers and investors.

British Land said: “Toward the end of the year, strengthening demand and asset prices in the Central London office market saw the economics of development improving significantly”.

Stalled projects are to be restarted with the Leadenhall Tower, known colloquially as the Cheese Grater building because of its wedge shaped exterior, possibly leading the way.

The 610,000 square foot building will be developed, if British Land Co. finds a suitable partner, after a three year gap.

The company said: “We expect to complete the buildings during 2013 and 2014, when we expect market demand for Grade A London office space to be strong and supply limited”.