British Land : Joules and Monsoon to Set up Shop at Whiteley

British Land and Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd (USS) are pleased to announce that Joules and Monsoon will be the latest fashion retailers to open at Whiteley retail and leisure destination in Hampshire.

Joules, the country inspired fashion retailer will open a 3,500 sq ft store taken on a 10 year lease, whilst Monsoon has agreed terms for a 4,558 sq ft store also on a 10 year lease.

Whiteley benefits from a large and affluent catchment of 1.2 million people with an estimated £3.1 billion potential spend. The catchment is set to expand further in the foreseeable future with 3,500 new homes at North Whiteley.

Situated between the two harbour cities of Portsmouth and Southampton and adjacent to a Tesco supermarket, the scheme also benefits from excellent accessibility via junction nine of the M27.

Claire Barber, Head of Shopping Centre Asset Management for British Land, said: "Whiteley is an excellent example of how we create high quality environments for both retailers and shoppers alike, delivering greater footfall and dwell times. Joules and Monsoon are fantastic additions to the line-up at Whiteley, cementing its position as a leading fashion destination and offering high quality brands to increase the scheme's attraction even further."

Work will also start on Whiteley's second phase in April this year which comprises 30,000 sq ft of additional restaurants and leisure space as well as a 30,000 sq ft nine-screen Cineworld cinema.

Whiteley's retailers include Bank, Beaverbrooks, Blacks, Boots, Card Factory, Carphone Warehouse, Claire's, Clarks, Clintons, Fat Face, H&M, Holland & Barrett, JD Sports, Jones Bootmaker, Ladbrokes, M&S, Mamas and Papas, Moss, Next, Paperchase, Phase Eight, Phones 4u, River Island, Sabichi, schuh, Sports Direct, The Body Shop, The Entertainer, Thomson, Tiger, Topshop, Trespass, Vision Express and WH Smith. The leisure line-up includes Caffe Nero, Chimichanga, Costa Coffee, Dean's Diner, Frankie & Benny's, Harvester, Prezzo, Starbucks, Subway, and independent bistro Montagu's. Wagamama's and YO! Sushi have recently opened.

Local independent retailers include Little Soles children's shoe shop, Russell's Sweet Shop, Solent Cycles and hair salon Hair OTT. Local estate agent Walker & Waterer has also taken a unit in another part of the scheme and Market Square itself provides space for a variety of independent markets. The shopping centre also provides 1,355 car parking spaces.

Notes to Editors:

About Universities Superannuation Scheme
Universities Superannuation Scheme was established in 1975 as the principal defined benefit pension scheme for universities and other higher education institutions in the UK. It has over 330,000 scheme members across nearly 400 institutions and is one of the largest pension schemes in the UK, with total fund assets of approximately £40 billion, of which property assets total approximately £2.5bn.

The scheme's trustee is Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited, a corporate trustee which provides scheme management and trusteeship from its offices based in Liverpool and London. The trustee company manages virtually all assets in-house via a wholly-owned investment management subsidiary company - USS Investment Management Limited - which provides both investment management and advisory services.

USS' property portfolio is part of an overall strategy to develop private market investment opportunities that fit well with the scheme's long-term pension liabilities.

For more information on Universities Superannuation Scheme please go to www.uss.co.uk.

About British Land
British Land is one of Europe's largest Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Through our property and finance expertise we attract experienced partners to create properties and environments which are home to over 1,000 different organisations and receive over 300 million visits each year. Our property portfolio is focused on the UK, in prime retail locations and London offices which attract high quality occupiers committed to long leases. We have total assets in the UK, owned or managed, of £17.1 billion (British Land share £11.2 billion), as valued at 30 September 2013. Our occupancy rate is 97% and average lease length to first break of 11 years.

UK retail assets account for 59% of our portfolio, around 80% of which are located at prime out of town sites. Comprising around 26 million sq ft of retail space across 67 retail parks, 87 superstores, 16 shopping centres and 12 department stores and 77 leisure assets, the retail portfolio is modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats. Our active asset management delivers space which is attractive and meets the needs of both retailers and consumers.

London offices, located in the City and West End, comprise 39% of the portfolio, which will rise to an estimated 43% on completion of current committed developments. Our 7 million sq ft of high quality office space includes Regent's Place and Paddington Central in the West End and Broadgate, the premier City office campus (50% share).

Our size and substance demands a responsible approach to business. We believe leadership on issues such as sustainability helps drive our performance and is core to the delivery of our overall objective of driving shareholder value.

Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com