Derwent London
 | |
| Public (LSE: DLN) | |
| Industry | Property |
| Founded | 1913 |
| Headquarters | London, UK |
Key people |
Robbie Rayne, Chairman John Burns, CEO Simon Silver, Director and head of Regeneration |
| Revenue | £180.5 million (2014)[1] |
| £805.0 million (2014)[1] | |
| £749.8 million (2014)[1] | |
| Website |
www |
Derwent London is a British-based property investment and development business. It is headquartered in London and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It joined the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Europe index[2] on 31 December 1999 when it was launched, trading under the name Derwent Valley Holdings.
History
The business was originally established as the operator of the Derwent Valley Light Railway which opened in 1913.[3] The railway closed in 1981 and in 1984 John Burns used the former operating company, Derwent Valley Holdings, as the vehicle with which to develop his London-based property business. In 2007 the company merged with London Merchant Securities plc to form Derwent London.[4] This deal was hailed as "the deal of the decade" by the editor of Property Week.[5] In July 2007 the company converted to a real estate investment trust.[6]
Operations
The Group is organised as one business - property investment and development. At 31 December 2014 its portfolio was valued at £4.0bn.[1]
Fitzrovia portfolio
From the merger with London Merchant Securities the company acquired 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2) of property to add to its existing Fitzrovia portfolio. This gave the company about 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) of property over more than 30 sites in Fitzrovia; about one fifth of the company's total portfolio. In November 2009 the company announced plans to transform part of Fitzrovia in central London into a new retail destination with cafes and restaurants.[7][8] The company's plans were criticised in the local paper Fitzrovia News who accused the company of wanting to change the character of the neighbourhood.[9]
In July 2010 they held an exhibition outlining their proposals for the Saatchi building in Charlotte Street: Fitzrovia News reported that Camden Council had confirmed that the Fitzrovia Partnership was intending to become a Business Improvement District (BID).[10]
The Turnmill Building Farringdon
In 2009 the company's plans to demolish Farringdon’s famous Turnmill building were turned down by London Borough of Islington after a campaign to save the building by local people. The company wanted to replace the 19th-century stables building with a glass and steel tower block. The company then appealed to the planning inspectorate, but their appeal was refused.[11] Subsequently, a revised planning application was granted approval and work on the new building commenced in April 2012.[12] This will create a 70,000 sq ft office and retail property close to the new Farringdon Crossrail interchange.[13]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Preliminary Results 2014" (PDF). Derwent London. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
- ↑ Turnbull, Dominic. "FTSE EPRA/NAREIT index series". Retrieved 6 December 2012.
- ↑ The Derwent London trend that bucks the market The Telegraph, 29 August 2007
- ↑ London Merchant swept off feet by Derwent's offer The Times, 15 November 2006
- ↑ Barrie’s blog: winners and losers of the 'noughties' Property Week
- ↑ Derwent London set to join UK REITs Property EU, 20 March 2007
- ↑ Project banks on Fitzrovia’s bohemian appeal Financial Times, 6 November 2009
- ↑ Derwent plots Fitzrovia revamp Property Week, 6 November 2009
- ↑ Plan to turn "little oasis" into retail precinct, Fitzrovia News, 24 November 2009 accessed 18 September 2010
- ↑ Derwent London believe nothing is impossible in Fitzrovia Fitzrovia News, 12 July 2010, accessed 18 September 2010
- ↑ Turnmill building saved from demolition, Islington Tribune, 28 May 2010 accessed 18 September 2010
- ↑ "CoStar UK - The Leader in Commercial Property Information". Costar.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
- ↑ "Home". derwentlondon.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
External links
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