British Land : Update on The Leadenhall Building

British Land and Oxford Properties announce a further 93,400 sq ft of leasing activity at The Leadenhall Building. This includes the building's architects, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners ("RSHP"), who have signed a binding Agreement for Lease for level 14. A further five floors are also under offer in three additional transactions. This brings the total office space let or under offer to c.70%.

RSHP, which will relocate from their current home at Thames Wharf Studios, Hammersmith, is taking a 15 year lease with 10 year break for level 14. At 18,000 sq ft this was the largest remaining floor at the building. They join global insurance broker Aon, leading insurance company Amlin, specialist pensions insurer Rothesay Life, and worldwide serviced office provider Servcorp at The Leadenhall Building, which reached practical completion in July 2014. Servcorp opened its offices on Level 30 in December 2014 and welcomed Dun & Bradstreet as the first occupier to move into the building.

Tim Roberts, Head of Offices at British Land said: "RSHP have been a valued partner throughout the conception and delivery of The Leadenhall Building and we're delighted they have chosen to relocate to the building. Their decision and the ongoing interest we are seeing reflects both the attractions of the building and the changing face of the City, appealing to an increasingly diverse mix of occupiers."

Mike Rayner, Head of Development at Oxford Properties said: "RSHP are one the world's leading architecture practices and their decision to move to The Leadenhall Building provides the ultimate endorsement. This is a world class building, which is attracting high calibre occupiers across a broad range of sectors."

The Partners at RSHP said: "We are very proud of The Leadenhall Building and delighted to become its latest tenants. After 30 years at Thames Wharf Studios, it is important for us to be moving into a building that reflects the ethos and evolution of our design practice, clearly stated in its urban relationship with the Lloyd's building opposite. We will begin this new phase of our history in a building that already feels like home but allows us the advantages of a contemporary, flexible office space in a prime location in the increasingly vibrant and exciting City of London."

An update on the fractured bolts: In November 2014, we reported that two bolts had fractured at the building. Investigations undertaken by contractor Laing O'Rourke and structural engineers Arup have now been completed. These confirm that the problem is limited to certain bolts. Arup has also confirmed that there is no adverse effect on the structural integrity of the building. A programme to replace a number of bolts will take place as a precautionary measure.

Notes to Editors

About the bolts at The Leadenhall Building

• The investigations included site and laboratory testing of the broken bolts and additional bolts on the building. A third bolt fractured recently and was captured by precautionary tethering put in place last year.
• The tests concluded that the bolts had fractured due to a material failure mechanism called Hydrogen Embrittlement. This is a crack growth mechanism within the bolt material.
• As the problem has been identified and is being rectified no further update is scheduled.

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 £19.0 billion (British Land share of which is £12.8 billion), as valued at 30 September 2014. Our properties are home to over 1,000 different organisations and receive over 340 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 54% 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 retail parks, superstores, shopping centres, department stores and leisure assets, the retail portfolio is modern, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of formats.

Our Office and Residential portfolio, which accounts for 46% 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 7.9 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 is 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 RSHP
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.

Set up as The Richard Rogers Partnership in 1977, the practice became Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners in 2007 to reflect the growing importance of two of the younger Partners, Graham Stirk and Ivan Harbour, and their role alongside Richard Rogers in the practice's future. RSHP now employs over 200 people, including 9 Partners, 10 Associate Partners and 57 Associates, in offices in London, Sydney and Shanghai.
www.rsh-p.com

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