Office developer to dispose of office portfolio and focus on retail

PROPERTY developer Hammerson has announced it will dispose of its office portfolio and instead focus on a retail strategy.

The company, which published its year end results for 2011 on Friday, said it would look to sell off its office properties in the medium term and concentrate on its retail portfolio which includes shopping centres such as Brent Cross in North London and the Bullring in Birmingham.

Hammerson owns several office developments in the City which it will be now looking for buyers for. These include 99 Bishopsgate, 1 Leadenhall C ourt, 125 Old Broad Street and 10 Gresham Street.

David Atkins, Chief Executive of Hammerson, said:

“Following the review of our strategy we will focus on being the best owner-manager and developer of retail property within Europe. Hammerson has created a retail business delivering outperformance from prime assets in winning locations. We now intend to sell our standing office investments over the medium term to maximise returns, redeploying capital into the retail sector to exploit our expertise and build on our existing scale. This will create efficiencies that lead to further cost savings and income growth from our portfolio.”

Blackfriars underground station reopens

BLACKFRIARS underground station reopened today after a three year upgrade was completed.

The station is now larger and more accessible following the rebuild, and is expected to be used by over 40,000 passengers a day.

The work was part of a larger redevelopment of Blackfriars station which will see it span both sides of the Thames.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said today: ‘With its magnificent ticket hall, brand new lifts and escalators, and more than double the previous capacity, the rebirth of this central London station will improve the journeys of thousands of passengers every single day.

‘An incredible amount of hard work and expertise has been invested in these improvements, and Blackfriars is now set to become a truly world-class station.’