British Land bulldozers given green light

15th Jun 2011 11:45

British Land, the FTSE 100 Real Estate Investment Trust, has welcomed the government's decision not to list the Broadgate office development in the City of London.The company can now go ahead with its planned £850m redevelopment of the site on behalf of its tenant, the Swiss financial services group UBS.English Heritage had argued the current buildings, clustered around Liverpool Street Station, were important examples of mid-eighties architecture which merited saving from the bulldozers. Under pressure from British Land and certain sections of the media however Jeremy Hunt, the British culture secretary refused to give the site a listing - which would have made redevelopment virtually impossible.British Land's shares moved up after the news.BS