British Land is set to push the button on a new London office building after securing the largest letting in the capital’s West End in more than twenty years.
The property company will redevelop a building in its Regent Place campus, having signed a deal with media brand Dentsu Aegis to take 310,000 sq ft of the office space when it is finished, doubling its presence on the estate.
British Land had already secured planning permission to build the eight-storey office, but was waiting until it could guarantee the space would be let before beginning construction. Work is now expected to begin in March.
The redevelopment of One Triton Square marks the next phase of British Land’s work at Regent’s Place – a 13-acre campus that is home to the UK offices of Facebook, Santander and Debenhams among others. British Land said in July that it would concentrate on building out three core campuses in the capital because investing in one-off buildings had become too expensive.
Chris Grigg, British Land’s chief executive, said the letting proved that “demand for space is healthy”, despite concerns that wider uncertainty in the UK market was causing firms to delay making decisions about leasing new offices.
“People are making long term decisions and so they are looking way beyond Brexit to where they want to have a major part of their business, and London still has a lot of attraction to them,” he said.