Songbird's exciting pipeline

At 11.2m square feet, Songbird has the largest development pipeline of any London-based property company. This may represent a higher risk than some are comfortable with, but the strength of the market goes some way towards assuaging these concerns.

In something of a departure from Songbird's core retail and office operations, residential developments are proceeding apace. A 58-storey tower called Newfoundland, and comprising 611 high quality residential suites, will be built at Canary Wharf. This forms part of a concept that's more commonly seen in locations such as Manhattan, where people live in close proximity to their workplace.

But that's just the start. Planning consent has been granted to develop of a 4.9m sq ft site adjacent to Canary Wharf. This will comprise 2.6m sq ft of residential space for 3,100 homes, a primary school and health centre. There will also be 1.3m sq ft of commercial space and over 100 high street shops, restaurants and cafes. Altogether this is expected to double the residential population in Canary Wharf to 200,000 within 10 years.

Strong interest from investors, notably in the Far East, allowed the sale of 10 Upper Bank Street for £795m in June, a substantial uplift on last June's £685m valuation. Some of the proceeds have been used to redeem loan notes, although there's a court hearing due later this year, or early next year, to rule on whether a £169m early redemption charge is payable.

JP Morgan Cazenove expect year-end adjusted net asset value of 323.5p a share (from 266p in 2013).