British Land

History

The British Land Company was founded in 1856 as an offshoot of the National Freehold Land Society (later Abbey National) formed in 1849 with the two chief architects of the freehold land movement Richard Cobden and John Bright. Both were ardent supporters of a movement to extend enfranchisement. To qualify for a parliamentary vote it was then necessary to be a landowner and the main object of the National Freehold was to facilitate the acquisition of small plots of land by the people. To do this the British Land Co. would purchase land and then resell it on the best terms to any customer who wanted to buy it. With the extension of the franchise, this reason ceased to govern the operation of the company, and it began to operate as a normal business in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

In 2004 it received planning permission for a Richard Rogers designed skyscraper at 122 Leadenhall Street, known informally as "The Cheese Grater" in the City of London. Construction of the tower, which is the 6th tallest building in the United Kingdom, began in October 2007 and was completed in 2014.

In May 2005 British Land announced that it had agreed to purchase Pillar Property Plc for £811 million in cash to boost its position in the out-of-town retail property sector.

In 2006 Sir John Ritblat, who had chaired the company since 1970, stood down and was replaced by Chris Gibson-Smith.

In October 2011, the company was placed in the number one position, with 135 subsidiaries, on a list of FTSE 100 companies that use tax havens for their operations, as revealed in a database of their subsidiaries compiled for the first time by the development charity ActionAid.

In March 2019, the company appointed Tim Score as the chair of its board.

In September 2020, British Land announced that its chief executive Chris Grigg would exit the company December of that year. He was succeeded by the firms chief financial officer Simon Carter in November 2020.

In November 2020, British Land wrote down the value of its portfolio by almost £1 billion after retail income fell due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.

In September 2023, it was reported that Meta, the owner of Facebook, had paid £149 million to British Land in order to break the lease on its Triton Square London Office. Meta reportedly had 18 years left on its lease at the time.

In January 2026, the company announced the resignation of its chief executive, Simon Carter, who was due to take up a new role at P3 Logistic Parks.

Operations

As of 31 March 2025 the company owned a portfolio valued at £6.1 billion. and Regent's Place near Warren Street Station.

Since October 2012 British Land and the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global had each owned 50% stakes in Meadowhall, one of the UK's largest shopping centres based in Sheffield. An agreement between Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) and British Land was signed on 18 May 2024 for NBIM to acquire the remaining 50% stake of the Meadowhall estate from British Land, completing on 12 July 2024. The cost of the acquisition was £360 million. British Land would continue as the asset manager of the property.

Main projects

• 122 Leadenhall Street, London, opened in July 2014
• 5 Broadgate, London
• 4 Kingdom Street, Paddington, London
• 5 Kingdom Street, Paddington, London
• Norton Folgate and Blossom Street, London
• Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, London
• Harmsworth Quays, London
• Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, Dublin, opened in 1988

References

References

1. "Annual Results 2025". British Land.
2. (3 December 2025). "FTSE UK Index Series: Quarterly Review December 2025". FTSE Russell.
3. W. C. March, The British Land Company Ltd. Centenary Booklet 1956
4. (16 May 2011). "British Land pre-lets 10 floors of office space to Aon in the Cheese Grater building". SOS News.
5. (23 May 2005). "British Land launches Pillar bid". BBC News.
6. (14 July 2006). "Gibson-Smith to helm British Land". The Telegraph.
7. Lawrence, Felicity. (11 October 2011). "Third of votes cast against British Land pay report". The Guardian.
8. (11 March 2019). "British Land's chairman John Gildersleeve to retire". Reuters.
9. (18 November 2020). "British Land's outgoing chief Chris Grigg regrets "people decisions" but hails new CEO as retail estate slides 14%". London Evening Standard.
10. (18 November 2020). "Shopping centre owner British Land takes £1bn hit to portfolio". Guardian.
11. Saker-Clark, Henry. (26 September 2023). "Meta pays developer £149m to break lease on London office building".
12. Boles, Tracey. (2026-01-11). "British Land boss Simon Carter to leave for warehouse job".
13. Wearden, Graeme. (18 September 2009). "British Land to sell half of Broadgate stake to Blackstone". The Guardian.
14. (26 May 2011). "British Land - creating a masterplan for one of London's most deprived areas". The Guardian.
15. (2012-10-17). "Fund buys 50 percent of Meadowhall Shopping Centre in the UK - Norges Bank".
16. (2024-05-19). "Fund expands ownership in Meadowhall".
17. "5 Broadgate Under Construction". Broadgate.
18. (14 May 2014). "Paddington's Kingdom Street scheme to be expanded". The Construction Index.
19. Hodgson, Joanna. (3 May 2023). "British Land gets green light for urban logistics hub in Paddington".
20. "New London Development-Blossom Street, E1".
21. (4 April 2013). "British Land kicks off its £1bn spending spree with Surrey Quays stake". The Standard.
22. (4 April 2013). "British Land Reaches Key Milestone in the Redevelopment of Harmsworth Quays".
23. (19 June 2019). "Stephen's Green Shopping Centre majority stake guiding €130m". The Irish Times.