British Land to manage Slough mall regen

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has appointed British Land as asset and development manager to lead the revamp of two Slough shopping centres that the REIT used to own. The Queensmere and Observatory centres, bought by ADIA for £130m in 2016, measure around 660,000 sq ft. The fund’s holdings also include the 57,400 sq ft Wellington House offices next door. The fund’s investment in redeveloping these is expected to total up to £900m. It is expected to submit plans to regenerate these later in the year. Last year, EG revealed that British Land was exploring the possibility of buying back a circa 20% stake in the shopping centres, having sold them to clients of Criterion Capital for £200m in 2006. The deal was tied with talks to buy Thames Valley Housing’s 16% stake in build-to-rent platform Fizzy Living, which ADIA jointly owns with TVH. However, these collapsed in February. Subsequently, British Land will not hold any equity in the scheme. To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette