LandSecs in £140m London sell-off

ONE of Trafalgar Square's landmark developments, Grand Buildings, has been sold for £140m in one of the biggest single building sales in the capital this year.

Land Securities, Britain's largest quoted property company, has sold the building, which counts power giants Shell and Lattice as tenants, to Islamic finance specialist Noriba Bank, a subsidiary of UBS.

Land has owned Grand Buildings, faced in Portland stone, since its original development was completed in 1991. Comprising about 160,000 square feet of office space and 40,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor it yields total annual gross revenue of £9.7m.

The building has often been the target of rioting, ranging from the Poll Tax protests in 1990 when the site was under construction to this year's May Day demonstrations.