London property specialist generates £32.5m with record number of lettings despite pandemic

Since October 1 2021, London property specialist Great Portland Estates PLC has agreed 17 new lettings across 102,100 sq ft, generating an annual rent of £5.5m.

Of the 17 leases that were completed, four were for the company’s Flex spaces, with the most recent fully fitted and fully managed leases at Pollen House, W1 achieving a rent of £210 per sq ft.

The largest transaction in the period was at Hanover Square, W1, where GPE leased the final office at Medici Courtyard (8,900 sq ft) to KKR on a co-terminus basis to a lease already held on the third floor, as well as their leases on the fifth to eighth floors (57,200 sq ft) of 18 Hanover Square.

In total, GPE has now signed 460,900 sq ft of new lettings since the start of the financial year (April 1 2021), generating a combined annual rent of £32.5m, with market lettings 9.8 per cent ahead of March 2021 ERV, surpassing the company’s previous record leasing high of £31.8m in 2016 with two months of the financial year still remaining.

Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive, said: “It is a significant achievement to deliver record leasing in a period marked by such economic and social disruption, which is a testament to both the quality of the spaces we have been delivering and the dedication and hard work of the GPE team.

“Absent a resurgence of the pandemic, our confidence is building for the remainder of 2022, as we expect the combination of economic growth, a return to normal trading conditions and central London’s magnetic appeal to be positive for our markets.”

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