Land Securities shows its confidence in London offices
Land Securities has announced it will spend £260m on a speculative mixed-use development in the City of London in a move it says “demonstrates our confidence in the London office market”.
1 & 2 New Ludgate in EC4 will comprise 346,000 sq ft of office space, plus 33,000 sq ft of restaurant and retail facilities. Land Securities has appointed Skanska Construction as the main contractor on the development. Construction is due to begin in August and to be completed in April 2015. The scheme has been designed by Fletcher Priest and Sauerbruch Hutton.
Land Securities’ decision to go ahead with the scheme follows its announcement last month that it would proceed with the next phase of its £2.2bn ‘Nova’ redevelopment in Victoria in partnership with CPPIB. This will deliver a total of 603,000 sq ft of offices, 193,000 sq ft of residential accommodation, 85,000 sq ft of retail space and restaurants, plus 16,000 sq ft of ‘community space’.
Colette O’Shea, Head of Development, London said: “Our decision to commence the speculative development of 1 & 2 New Ludgate reflects our confidence both in the City office market, where we believe supply of new space will be constrained in 2015, and in the quality of the attractive and highly efficient office space we are creating.”
