Landsec


Land Securities Group plc is the largest commercial property development and investment company in the United Kingdom. The firm switched to Real Estate Investment Trust status when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is headquartered in London, England, and traded on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

History

The Group traces its origins to 1944, when its founder Harold Samuel purchased Land Securities Investment Trust Limited, which owned three houses in Kensington and some government stock. Further acquisitions followed shortly afterwards and from 1947 the company concentrated on commercial property. In the early days some non-UK investments were acquired, but in 1971 these were sold off and the company has concentrated solely on the UK market since then. The company name was changed to Land Securities plc in 1982. After buying Trillium in 2000, it formed a 50/50 JV company Telereal in 2002 with William Pears Group to buy the property portfolio of British Telecom: after selling its shares in Telereal to WPG in 2007, Land Securities sold Trillium to WPG in 2009.
On 31 March 2012, Francis Salway was succeeded as chief executive by Robert Noel. Noel was managing director of the company's London properties, having joined Land Securities in January 2010 from Great Portland Estates plc, where he had been property director since 2002.
On 12 June 2017, Land Securities rebranded as Landsec. The registered company name remains Land Securities Group PLC.
Robert Noel stepped down as CEO on 31 March 2020. , the company's chief financial officer, acted interim CEO until 14 April 2020.
joined Landsec as CEO on 14 April 2020.

Operations

Landsec owns and manages more than of commercial property, from London offices and high street shops to major shopping centres and out-of-town retail parks. At 31 March 2019 the company's property portfolio was valued at £13.5 billion. The company owns the Piccadilly Lights in Piccadilly Circus in London. It has also led Project Nova, the development of the area around London Victoria station.