Property owner British Land has formed a joint venture with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, to develop the leisure, retail and office space in the Broadgate complex in the Liverpool Street area of East London.
British Land said the joint venture’s strategy would focus on “broadening Broadgate’s appeal from a traditional City-focused occupier base to cater for the growing creative district centred around Shoreditch to the East and the emerging tech-focused area around Old Street to the North”.
“Plans for the next stage of investment are already underway and include a major refurbishment of 100 Liverpool Street along with a significant expansion of the retail offer around Broadgate South,” it said. The development is expected to be completed when the new Crossrail service opens in 2018.
The current development at 5 Broadgate, which is pre-let entirely to UBS, will add a further 710,000 sq ft office space. British Land said the current £20m redevelopment of Broadgate Circle will also improve the retail and restaurant offer on the estate.
Broadgate consists of more than four million sq ft of office, retail and leisure space. In the last four years 950,000 sq ft of new space has been developed or refurbished there.
Christopher Morrish, regional head, Europe, at GIC Real Estate, said: “We are pleased to be partnering British Land in the ownership of Broadgate and share their long term vision for the estate. Together we will continue to enhance the value of the asset through active repositioning and redevelopment of the office buildings and by enhancement of the retail and leisure facilities. With the improving rail links, this will attract a broad range of occupiers to the estate.”
Tim Roberts, head of offices at British Land, said: “We see a significant opportunity to move Broadgate from a more traditional City-oriented office estate into a vibrant mixed-used campus serving not just the City but also the emerging districts to the north and east of the City. We’ve had an excellent relationship with Blackstone at Broadgate. GIC is a strong new partner with a long history in real estate and we are excited at the prospect of working with the team over the coming years.”
