Trinity Leeds celebrates 22m visitors

Trinity Leeds, which is now 97 per cent let, attracted 22 million visitors in its first year.

The group said it opened the award-winning Trinity Kitchen street food market in the autumn, which has proved very popular and strengthened the leisure offer in the centre.

It added that the opening of Primark in December has added substantial footfall, as has its use of social media, pop-up stores and events.

White Rose, Land Securities’ other big shopping centre to the south of the city, has received planning permission for a cinema and more food outlets.

The group said that despite the excitement and footfall generated by the opening of Trinity Leeds, White Rose has continued to trade well.

Land Securities, which posted a better than expected 12.2 per cent rise in net asset value, also announced an end to its strategy of building London offices speculatively.

The builder of the Walkie Talkie skyscraper in London’s City financial district said adjusted diluted net asset value for the year to March 31 was 1,013 pence, up from 903p in the previous year, on a 9.9 per cent increase in revenue profit.

The company, which has built more than one billion pounds of London schemes with no lettings in place after it forecasted a supply squeeze, said growing competition for sites and rising construction costs meant that any new, near-term development commitments were likely to require re-lets.

It said it did not expect Britain’s improved economic conditions and real growth in wages to translate yet into rental growth across the entire retail market, and would continue to sell properties in order to invest in new schemes such as city centre and edge-of town developments.

Land Securities also said its Walkie Talkie skyscraper at 20 Fenchurch Street - which hit headlines last year after it was blamed for scorching the panels of a Jaguar car - was now 87 per cent let and it had found a solution for the solar glare issue.