British Land : announces partnership with Snøhetta at Paddington Central

22 Sep 2016

British Land has today announced a collaboration with world leading architectural, landscaping and design practice, Snøhetta, to create an innovative and inspirational space at Paddington Central. British Land works with local communities to design efficient, engaging places and uses design to enliven and bring places to life. At Paddington Central the vision is to create a softer, greener space that promotes wellbeing for those who work, shop, live and visit.

The first of these spaces will be located on Kingdom Street, where pocket parks are being curated with new public art, fire pits and games rooms, adding character to a renewed streetscape. The Snøhetta design uses the principals of a library with a modern day interpretation in an artistic form. From this, Snøhetta created a cluster of oversized books that create a variety of spaces, ranging from quiet and reflective to extrovert and public. The basic structure is geometric and simple, allowing for a number of different interpretations by rotating the back walls of the books and flipping the pages.

The second space will spectacularly transform the area adjacent to the waterside and partly covered by the Westway. Snøhetta have been commissioned to create a distinct and innovative design that will combine aesthetic beauty with practical benefits for occupiers and users of the canalside area.

The collaborations with Snøhetta will be launched in two phases. 'The Library' will be the first to launch in 2017. This initiative is one of four major design partnerships recently announced by British Land. The company uses design to help environments that are in tune with modern lifestyles and which become destinations of choice.

British Land CEO, Chris Grigg, comments: 'Our vision is to create Places People Prefer and design forms an integral part of delivering places that make a positive difference to people's lives. We are delighted to be partnering with Snøhetta; at the heart of good design is the challenge to deliver the most impact and best outcome for the user whether it is an individual product, a single building or the wider environment.'

Snøhetta Partner and Managing Director, Robert Greenwood, comments: 'British Land stands apart as a company that understands the role of private initiative in public projects. We are thrilled to be a part of their ongoing commitment to design by creating Places People Prefer.'

Notes to Editors

About Snøhetta

Snøhetta began as a collaborative architectural and landscape workshop, and has remained true to its trans-disciplinary way of thinking since its inception. Our work strives to enhance our sense of place, identity and relationship to others and the physical spaces we inhabit, whether feral or human-made. Museums, markets, reindeer observatories, landscapes and dollhouses get the same care and attention to purpose. In 1989, Snøhetta received its first commission to re-conceive the great Alexandria Library in Egypt after winning an international design competition. This was followed a decade later by another competition-winning proposal for the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. In 2004, Snøhetta was commissioned to build the only cultural building on the World Trade Center Memorial site, and a permanent office was then set up in New York. In 2013, following the commission to design the new SFMOMA Expansion, Snøhetta launched its San Francisco studio. Further details can be found on Snøhetta's website at www.snohetta.com.

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. We have total assets in the UK, owned or managed of £19.7 billion (of which British Land share is £14.4 billion), as valued at 30 September 2015. Our properties are home to over 1,200 different organisations ranging from international brands to local start-ups. 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 finance these places effectively.

UK Retail assets account for 51% 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. 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 22 million sq ft of retail space across shopping 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 49% 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 7.5 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).

We were awarded the 2016 Queen's Award for Enterprise, the UK's highest accolade for business success, for our continued economic, social and environmental achievements over five years. Our industry-leading sustainability strategy is a powerful tool to deliver lasting value for all our stakeholders. By supporting communities, improving environments and growing economies, we create Places People Prefer and enhance long-term returns. Further details can be found on the British Land website at www.britishland.com.

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