Derwent London buys more West End locations, drives demand for office space


THE

andlord Derwent London has bet on strong demand for post-pandemic life sciences offices and has invested more than £ 200million in sites in the capital’s ‘knowledge district’.

FTSE 250 has purchased buildings from Lazari Investments on Euston Road and Tottenham Court Road. They are both in an area where there is a high concentration of academic, medical and scientific organizations.

The first was bought for £ 190million. It is leased to University College London Hospital and offers stable income and a potential longer term opportunity to build a larger program. The latter is a multi-let office bought for £ 24.7million.

Companies in the life sciences sectors have also clustered in other parts of London, such as White City, seeking to be close to universities and hospitals.

Derwent boss Paul Williams said: “There is a very growing demand for space in this area.

The company added that it has a new joint venture with Lazari to consider the development of an office project on Baker Street, subject to a building permit.

Shares of the company, which saw their net rental income in the first half of the year rise 6.8% to £ 90.1million, rose 66p to 3777p.

Derwent London has also raised its estimated rent forecast for this year to 2% to -2%, from 0% to -5%.

Elsewhere in the real estate sector, shares of serviced office giant IWG improved, up 5.6p to 325p.

The firm said second-quarter investigations had returned to pre-Covid levels.

Mark Dixon, Managing Director of IWG, said: “While the pace of the recovery remains dependent on the continued easing of pandemic restrictions in our markets, we look forward to the second half of the year with cautious optimism after implementing necessary changes to our network and cost base. . “

He added: “Longer term, with the improvements we are seeing in our operating environment, we remain confident of a stronger recovery in 2022.”