Derwent London

The business was originally established as the operator of the Derwent Valley Light Railway, which opened in 1913. 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.

In 2007 Derwent Valley Holdings merged with London Merchant Securities plc to form Derwent London. This deal was hailed as "the deal of the decade" by the editor of Property Week. In July 2007 the company converted to a real estate investment trust.

Operations

The group is organised as one business – property investment and development. At 31 December 2025 its portfolio was valued at £5.1bn.

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. 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.

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).