Canary Wharf owner says demand for high end London offices hit by economic crisis

Songbird Estates, the property group behind Canary Wharf in London, said it hoped the 2012 Olympics would put its developments into the spotlight and encourage more businesses to move to the Docklands development.

However it admitted the current economic crisis meant demand for high grade office space across London had been falling, but it said it was in a strong position to take advantage when the situation improves. It said:

Euro and eurozone uncertainty overshadowed the year. Demand and supply were therefore both relatively constrained in the London market. However, though there was a greater level of fragility in the real estate office marekt in the last months of 2011, London remains perceived as a relatively safe haven for real estate investors.

The transfer of Shell employees and the phased movement of JP Morgan staff to Canary Wharf in 2012 means the development will have more than 100,000 workers for the first time.

Songbird said the impact on Canary Wharf's retail operations from the opening of the nearby Westfield shopping centre at Stratford had been muted so far.

In its full year figures, Songbird said its net asset value had climbed to 190p compared with 187p. Underlying profit fell to £4.6m from £28.8m, partly due to reduced rental income after the sale of two properties and partly as a result of a reduction in income from lease surrenders (including a £495m sale to JP Morgan in December 2010.)

Property developers learn from London's dukes and earls

(Reuters) - A record number of London developers looking to build bespoke neighbourhoods from scratch will be emulating the success of centuries-old aristocratic landowning dynasties who have helped transform the capital city in the past 50 years.

Developments like the 67-acre scheme in the King's Cross district and a 2,818-home plan for the Olympics site are among a dozen projects that have taken lessons from the likes of Grosvenor and Cadogan Estates, areas formed hundreds of years ago that have boosted property values in recent decades by being picky with tenants and improving public areas.

"Everyone increasingly realises that design and maintenance of the environment around the buildings is as likely to improve property values as anything else," said Sir Terry Farrell, who designed a 77-acre masterplan of shops, offices and homes in the Earls Court district of west London that will be ready in 2032.

"There is a much stronger move towards estate management, the kind of custodianship the great estates have done extremely well," he told Reuters.