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Derwent London
Company type	Public company
Traded as	LSE: DLN; FTSE 250 component;
Industry	Property
Founded	1984
Headquarters	London, UK
Key people	John Burns, Chairman ; Paul Williams, CEO ; Simon Silver, Director and Head of Regeneration
Revenue	£265.9 million (2023)
Operating income	£(428.9) million (2023)
Net income	£(476.4) million (2023)
Website	derwentlondon.com

Derwent London is a British-based property investment and development business. It is headquartered in London and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

The business was originally established as the operator of the Derwent Valley Light Railway which opened in 1913.^[2] The railway closed in 1981 and in 1984 John Burns used the former operating company, Derwent Valley Holdings, as the vehicle with which to develop his London-based property business. It joined the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Europe index on 31 December 1999 when it was launched, trading under the name Derwent Valley Holdings.^[3] In 2007 the company merged with London Merchant Securities plc to form Derwent London.^[4] This deal was hailed as "the deal of the decade" by the editor of Property Week.^[5] In July 2007 the company converted to a real estate investment trust.^[6]

Operations

The Group is organised as one business – property investment and development. At 31 December 2023 its portfolio was valued at £4.8bn.^[1]

Fitzrovia portfolio

From the merger with London Merchant Securities the company acquired 800,000 square feet (74,000 m²) of property to add to its existing Fitzrovia portfolio. This gave the company about 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m²) of property over more than 30 sites in Fitzrovia; about one fifth of the company's total portfolio. In November 2009 the company announced plans to transform part of Fitzrovia in central London into a new retail destination with cafes and restaurants.^[7]^[8] The company's plans were criticised in the local paper Fitzrovia News who accused the company of wanting to change the character of the neighbourhood.^[9]

In July 2010 the company held an exhibition outlining its proposals for the Saatchi building in Charlotte Street: Fitzrovia News reported that Camden Council had confirmed that the Fitzrovia Partnership was intending to become a Business Improvement District (BID).^[10]

The Turnmill Building Farringdon

In 2009 the company's plans to demolish Farringdon's famous Turnmills were turned down by London Borough of Islington after a campaign to save the building by local people. The company wanted to replace the 19th-century stables building with a glass and steel tower block. The company then appealed to the planning inspectorate, but their appeal was refused.^[11] Subsequently, a revised planning application was granted approval and work on the new building commenced in April 2012.^[12] This will create a 70,000 sq ft office and retail property close to the new Farringdon station Crossrail interchange.^[13]