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Great Portland Estates, a UK property investment and development firm with around 80% of their properties located in London's West End, are planning to start three developments in the capital during the first half of 2010. Combined, the projects are estimated to cost around £100m.

The company is reportedly planning to start an office development on Regent Street, refurbish a property on Oxford Street, and also convert another office building in Central London into apartments.

The company said today in a statement that they were predicting rents to rise in the second part of 2010, partly due to a lack of office space in Central London.

According to Bloomberg.com Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive Officer for Great Portland Estates, commented that "supply is tight", adding:

"With the take up of office space improving, we have seen isolated examples of rents rising. If the UK economy continues to recover, supporting occupational demand, we remain of the view that more general rental growth will return towards the end of this year as the supply of space to let diminishes."

Courtauld added that their development for new offices on Regent Street is set to be "a real rarity."

Published by Jo on Wednesday, 20 January 2010 at 1:13 PM