British Land is in the process of developing the space at Regent’s Place in NW1, which is set to become the retailer’s new London headquarters.
Work began on 10 Brock Street in October last year and is expected to be completed during the summer of 2013. Debenhams will occupy the lower floors of the London office building and has committed to a 25-year lease without breaks.
A number of other recognisable brands and globally operative businesses are signed up to take office space at the site, including Gazprom, Ricoh and the Aegis Group.
British Land has a series of developments across an estate at Regent’s Place to which 10 Brock Street will be the latest addition.
“Today’s announcement is a further endorsement of the quality and attractiveness of our 2.2 million sqft office development programme to major occupiers,” said Tim Roberts, head of offices at British Land.
“The letting secures long-term income on the lower floors underpinning investment value, leaving the opportunity to attract premium rents on the higher floors closer to the building’s completion date.”
Debenham’s chief executive Michael Sharp said: “The estate is well positioned in the West End with great communication links across London. It also provides outstanding amenities and sense of community for its occupants. We look forward to working with British Land and moving into the new offices in 2013.”
Back in July, British Land announced that the financial information services company Markit had agreed to take up the option of occupying an extra 22,000 sqft of office space its Ropemaker Place development in the City of London. The deal took the building up to full capacity.
Ropemaker Place at 25 Ropemaker Street is rated excellent by BREEAM assessors and British Land describes it as being one of the most sustainable office space buildings in London.
See Serviced Offices on Ropemaker Street
Editor’s notes: Regent’s Place is s a 13-acre, fully managed campus, that is home to over 20,000 workers and residents. Including 10 Brock Street, there are 8 mixed-use properties at the scheme such as Euston Tower and The Triton Building.
Other tenants at Regent’s Place include Lend Lease, Manchester City Football Club, and Whitefoord LLP.
Facebook had committed to renting 87,719 square feet in 2013 on a 10-year lease and, in September 2021, agreed to rent the entirety of the redeveloped 1 Triton Square at the scheme, in which it would occupy 370,000 square feet.
Additionally, British Land’s flexible workspace brand Storey provides flex space at 388 Euston Road at Regent’s Place.
In May 2012, Debenhams agreed to pre-let a further 29,500 square feet at 10 Brock Street taking its commitment to 174,500 square feet on a 25-year lease with no breaks, The property was to be the retailer’s London and UK head office. Debenhams took occupation in 2013.
During the pandemic, in December 2020, the retailer that was founded in 1778 announced that it was going into liquidation.
In January 2021, Boohoo announced that it had bought the Debenhams brand and website for £55m, but did not retain any of the remaining 118 stores, meaning the loss of up to 12,000 jobs.
In May 2021, liquidators announced that all remaining UK stores would close later that month, marking the end of Debenhams as a department store retailer after 243 years.
The company had been experiencing financial difficulties pre-pandemic and, in 2018, it announced the largest loss in its history, a pre-tax loss of £491 million, along with the closure of up to 50 stores.
In March 2019, Debenhams had agreed to surrender its lease at Regent’s Place to make way for Facebook.
In September 2023, British Land announced that it had received a payment of £149 million from Facebook’s parent company, Meta, for the surrender of its lease. The payment was said to be the equivalent of around 7 years of rent.
It is understood that Meta had around 18 years left on the lease at the time of exercising the break option.
British Land stated that the vacancy would allow the company to efficiently reposition the scheme as a leading life sciences campus.
In March 2024, it was announced that British Land and Royal London Asset Management had formed a £385 million joint venture to develop a science and innovation building at 1 Triton Square into a best-in-class science and innovation building at Regent’s Place.
British Land advised that the design of 1 Triton Square is highly flexible, offering a mix of fitted and lab-enabled space, and the potential to incorporate serviced offices to accommodate flexible requirements at the lower levels, while delivering best-in-class office space on the upper floors.
In February 2025, it was announced that British Land had agreed a deal with generative AI company Synthesia.
At the time of the deal, the company was the UK’s most valuable generative AI company with a valuation of $2.1 billion.
It leased 20,000 square feet of bespoke office space and would take occupation of its new London headquarters in the summer of 2025.