Places People Prefer

It’s a year since we received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, the UK’s highest business accolade, awarded to companies for continuous achievement over a five year period in bringing major economic, social and environmental benefits through their own business success.

As the boundaries between work and leisure become increasingly blurred we use our insight to respond to the way people want to work, shop and live to create Places People Prefer. We ensure that both individual buildings and their broader environments can cater for the changing needs of the people who use, and live, in and around them. 

We use our scale, skill and expertise to bring our assets to life, expanding their appeal and bringing together a broad range of businesses and people. And that drives our long-term performance.
 
Over the past year we’ve been just as busy: just a few of our recent activities are detailed below.

A New Leisure Quarter for Glasgow Fort
 

Last year we completed a £12 million Leisure Quarter at Glasgow Fort. Comprising a 600 space multi-storey car park and four restaurants, the Leisure Quarter includes a living green canopy and walls, sustainably sourced timber and natural ventilation to enhance wellbeing. The development provides almost 3,000 sq ft of outdoor dining space, green public spaces, an improved public realm and children’s pocket parks providing places to gather, socialise and play in between the restaurants. We also recently completed 16 leasing deals, including Costa, Smiggle, Waterstones and Cafe Rouge to enhance the retail and leisure offer. 
 

Meeting our Customers' Needs at Meadowhall 



We submitted a planning application to Sheffield City Council in November for a £300 million Leisure Hall at Meadowhall. The proposed extension forms part of a five-year vision to extend the leisure offer at the centre, helping further grow the appeal of the Sheffield City Region. The Leisure Hall will create 540 temporary jobs during its construction and up to 1,400 jobs once complete. A £60 million refurbishment is due to complete this year which, with the Leisure Hall, will ensure the centre remains a modern shopping environment meeting the needs of retailers and consumers alike.
 

Augmented Reality Proves a Hit with our Customers



Before Christmas we launched one of the UK’s largest ever augmented reality games in retail property. Freezy’s Christmas Adventure was rolled out at 21 local and regional centres across the company’s multi-let retail portfolio. The app-based game encouraged families to follow a five step virtual present hunt, helping snowman Freezy overcome obstacles and gather gifts for Santa. Following the first successful campaign, we launched a similar initiative for families to enjoy this Easter – ‘Gnomee’s Egg Hunt’.
 

Delivering Value

Committed to Renewable Energy

Last July we became a member of RE100, a forward thinking global collaboration of businesses committed to using 100% electricity from renewable sources. The initiative drives the transformation of the global energy market and supports the transition towards a low carbon economy. Our commitment to renewable energy covers our own offices as well as electricity purchased for our managed retail and office properties.

Standing the Test of Time

In April, we won the CIBSE Test of Time Award for energy reductions, recognising the work we have done to cut landlord energy intensity by 38% versus 2009, deliver gross energy savings of £13m to occupiers over the last four years and cut carbon intensity by 40%. Not only has this reduced occupier costs and emissions, we’re well positioned for climate change regulations. Efficiency improvements have run alongside an increasing focus on the wellbeing of the people who work, shop and live in our buildings.

Delivering our Vision for Broadgate



In December we started work at 100 Liverpool Street at Broadgate. 100 Liverpool Street will cater for the needs of businesses from a broad range of sectors and of differing sizes, with flexible floorplates that can be easily divided for smaller operations. The building’s mix of retail, leisure and office space will meet the evolving needs of occupiers and building on the success of the Circle in repositioning the campus as a world-class, mixed use destination for London. 100 Liverpool Street will complete shortly after the opening of Liverpool Street’s Crossrail station in 2018. 

Our People

Driving Equality in the Workplace

In March we announced that we are offering enhanced Shared Parental Pay to our employees, providing equal benefits in terms of pay following the birth or adoption of a child. This is a progressive step towards improving gender equality in the workplace, providing flexibility and choice in how they care for a child in its first year, and demonstrates our commitment to inclusivity, helping to attract and retain talented individuals of all sexes.

Celebrating Inclusivity

We celebrated the first birthdays of our inclusivity-focused British Land Women’s and Pride Committees over the past year. Each committee is dedicated to improving equality in the workplace and encouraging our peers to do the same. We marked our Women’s Committee’s first birthday with a talk from star architect Amanda Levete, and were proud to take part in the Pride In London Parade last July, supporting the Albert Kennedy Trust – a nationwide charity that provides emergency housing to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young people in crisis.