British Land : The City’s newest meeting point unveiled at The Leadenhall Building

British Land and Oxford Properties today unveil the new public space at the base of The Leadenhall Building following the completion of construction work. Spanning over half an acre, it is the largest area of publicly accessible space created in the City of London for a decade.

To celebrate the opening of the public space, the developers have commissioned an exhibition in collaboration with New London Architecture which chronicles the construction of The Leadenhall Building. Free to access and open until spring 2015, visitors can discover the vision behind the building and the cutting-edge construction techniques of London's latest landmark. The exhibition is open in the Leadenhall Building public space from today.

The building, designed by Graham Stirk of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, provides the highest office space in the City of London and has earned the nickname 'The Cheesegrater' on account of its distinctive tapered profile, designed to protect backdrop views of St Paul's Cathedral from Fleet Street.

It is equally recognisable at street level, with the building sitting atop sixteen inclined columns and braces creating a vast area of open space which reaches 28 metres in height. This area runs underneath the building and will open a new walking route from Bishopsgate through to Leadenhall Street which will be used by thousands of people every day.

Protected from the elements by four glass windbreakers, the area will serve as a new meeting point in the heart of the City, featuring tended lawns and trees, and a hard landscaped area that will play host to a range of events and activities, including the exhibition on the construction of the

The space will ultimately be integrated with the adjacent St Helen's Square in 2015, creating a 2,000 sq ft park-like area, offering City workers a green oasis in the heart of the Square Mile.

Graham Stirk, Partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, said: "Building tall has allowed us to create a great public space at street level that will complement the adjacent St Helen's Square. This new sun-lit seven-storey high space is a fantastic contribution to one of the most active and densely developed parts of the City of London."

Notes to Editors

For further information on The Leadenhall Building please visit www.theleadenhallbuilding.com and follow us on Twitter @LeadenhallBding

About British Land

We are one of Europe's largest publicly listed real estate companies. We own, manage, develop and finance a portfolio of high quality commercial property, focused on retail locations around the UK and London Offices & Residential. We have total assets in the UK, owned or managed of £17.6 billion (British Land share of which is £11.9 billion), as valued at 31 March 2014. Our properties are home to over 1,000 different organisations and receive over 300 million visits each year. Our objective is to deliver long-term and sustainable total returns to our shareholders and we do this by focusing on Places People Prefer. People have a choice where they work, shop and live and we aim to create outstanding places which make a positive difference to people's everyday lives. Our customer orientation enables us to develop a deep understanding of the people who use our places. We employ a lean team of experts, who have the skills to translate this understanding into creating the right places, and we have an efficient capital structure which is able to effectively finance these places.

UK Retail assets account for 53% (pro forma for developments at estimated end value) of our portfolio. As the UK's largest listed owner and manager of retail space, our portfolio is well matched to the different ways people shop today, from major regional shopping centres to single occupier locations. We are focused on being the destination of choice for retailers and their customers by being the best provider of spaces and services. Comprising around 25 million sq ft of retail space across 63 retail parks, 82 superstores, 14 shopping centres, 12 department stores and 77 leisure assets, the retail portfolio is modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats.

Our Office and Residential portfolio, which accounts for 47% (pro forma for developments at estimated end value) of our portfolio is focused on London. We have an attractive mix of high‑quality buildings in well‑managed environments and a pipeline of development projects which will add significantly to our portfolio. Increasingly, our offices are in mixed-use environments which include retail and residential elements. Our 7.3 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 and creating Places People Prefer.

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

About Oxford Properties

Oxford Properties one of the world's leading real estate companies. A global platform for real estate investment, development and management, with over 1,700 employees and approximately $27 billion of real assets that it manages for itself and on behalf of its co-owners and investment partners. Established in 1960, Oxford was acquired in 2001 by OMERS, one of Canada's largest pension funds with over $65 billion in assets. Oxford has regional offices in Toronto, London and New York, each with investment, development and management professionals who have deep real estate expertise and local market insight. For more information visit www.oxfordproperties.com

About Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) is an award-winning, international architectural practice based in London. Over the past three decades, RSHP has attracted critical acclaim with innovative projects across Europe, Asia, Australasia and North America. The practice is experienced in designing a wide range of building types including office, residential, transport, education, culture, leisure, retail, civic and healthcare. The quality of its designs has been recognised with some of architecture's highest awards, including two RIBA Stirling Prizes for Terminal 4 at Madrid Barajas Airport in 2006 and Maggie's Cancer Care Centre, London in 2009.