Retailers snap up half of Trinity shop space

The 350m shopping centre, the first major retail development in the UK to get the go-ahead since the credit crunch, will help Leeds to leapfrog Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham to become the UK's fourth biggest retail destination after London, Glasgow and Birmingham.

The flagship one million sq ft retail development is set to transform Leeds city centre when it opens in spring 2013 and will employ 3,000 retail staff.

Parent company Land Securities said it will demolish the final building on Albion Street before Christmas.

Gerald Jennings, Land Securities' retail portfolio director for the North, said: "If we were at 50 per cent in a benign climate we would feel that was a good performance. In this climate it's a superb performance."

The group's White Rose shopping development in south Leeds has retained its footfall levels at 13 million at a time when many rivals have lost customers.

The capital value of the centre has risen by 3.5 per cent and only two per cent of the shop space is empty, which compares to a six per cent rate across Land Securities' retail portfolio.

Land Securities, the UK's largest listed landlord and developer, beat analysts' forecasts with a rise in its half-year net asset value, despite its outlook for weak economic growth.

It has kickstarted 1bn of projects so far this year.

In recent years, Land Securities has cut its public sector exposure to five per cent of income, from 10 per cent, and will lower this further as the Government plans to axe half a million jobs to reduce debts.

Land Securities chief executive Francis Salway said: "There will be further Government lease expiries and we will want to redevelop the assets in 2012, so that will probably come down by another one per cent."

He added that market conditions are slightly more favourable than expected.