By Andrew White
EGi News, 23 January 2001
A consortium of leading UK landlords, comprising British Land, Canary Wharf Group, Legal & General Property, Morley Fund Management and Prudential Property Investment Managers, has enlisted HighSpeed Office to offer high-speed telecommunications services to the tenants within their offices.
The group today confirmed it has selected HighSpeed Office as its preferred broadband service provider and said it is in advanced talks with 15 other UK landlords to join the venture. If the talks are successful, HighSpeed Office, which is backed by ARC Associates and Marconi, would service around 85m sq ft of offices in over 2,000 UK buildings.
Chris Butchers, chief executive office of HighSpeed Office, said: "Forming a partnership with the consortium enables us to deliver broadband communications services to the desktops of more than an estimated 1m business users throughout the UK. We will continue to seek alliances with property owners who recognise the benefits."
Nick Ritblat, director of British Land (BL), said: "By aggregating our real estate portfolios with their telecommunications expertise, we will be able to address efficiently our tenants' growing requirements for access to electronically delivered information and services."
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter advised the consortium, while ARC Associates advised HighSpeed Office.
Reproduced from Estate Gazette Interactive
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