Well, good morning, everybody, another lovely day. Welcome to Derwent London's Interim Results Presentation. Today, you will also hear from Emily, Damian, and Nigel. I will then wrap up before Q&A. Introduction and guidance. First of all, London's got its buzz back. The flight to quality is ongoing, with businesses recognizing the important role offices play in retaining and attracting talent. Grade A buildings are in short supply, and following a wait and see approach during COVID, large occupiers have re-engaged and continue to enter into early pre-let discussions. While the outlook has become more difficult, Derwent has a differentiated product that puts our customers first. This has contributed to our pre-letting successes at 80 Charlotte Street, Soho Place, and Francis House. New leases, including our recently completed Featherstone, were agreed at more than 9% above ERV. The business remains very active.
In addition to increasing our pipeline with the acquisitions from future super sites, we completed developments at Soho Place and the Featherstone Building. More on these later. We have further reduced our exposure to buildings with limited upgrading potential, and we're particularly pleased with the sale of Bush House in July, where the substantial premium achieved matched our anticipated development profit. Our financial results reflect the stable property market conditions seen for most of the period, with a total return of +3%, and leverage remains conservative at just under 24%. Now turning to our outlook. 2022 started well, with investment volumes and take up in H1 both above long-term trends. In recent weeks, however, the outlook has become less certain as the macroeconomic situation has weakened, and there has been an increase in both financing costs and inflation.
This brings back greater pressure on property yields. However, London continues to have a global appeal, and we expect higher quality buildings to outperform. Our portfolio is well-placed, following the retention of good quality buildings and the disposal of more secondary assets. In February, we updated our 12-month rental guidance for full year 2022 to 0% to +3%. We are maintaining this guidance following a 0.9% ERV growth in H1, and continue to expect a spread of performance between the assets. Now turning to the occupational market and market themes. Occupational demand is healthy for the right products such as ours. Businesses are returning to long-term occupational strategies with a mix of new requirements and expansions in the market. Take up was 16% above the 10-year average.
Occupiers are demanding more from their space and from their landlords and the flight to quality. Environmental credentials, adaptability, and amenity are all moving quickly up their list of requirements, and space needs to be well-located with good transport links, such as the long-awaited Elizabeth line. Flex is important, but longer leases of 10-15 years remain in demand from larger occupiers. All the sub-10,000-sq-ft scale, which is typically associated with greater flexibility, occupiers still request a five-year lease for our furnished and flexible units. Turning now to the investment market. The high investment volumes in H1 masked strong performance in Q1 and the subsequent slowing down we're now seeing. However, London is a safe haven and remains an attractive market globally, with yields relatively higher than continental Europe. Investors are paying closer attention to income quality and sustainability credentials, with risk being priced more keenly.
Many properties continue to trade at keen prices, but a number have recently been withdrawn where bids fall below ambitious vendor pricing expectations. With no pressure to sell, vendors are retaining their assets. CBRE's estimate of potential investment demand is still high at GBP 37 billion, with only GBP 5 billion on the market, although decision-making is taking a little longer. Now, upgrading the portfolio and the flight to quality. Capital recycling is central to our business model, helping us increase our portfolio quality while maintaining conservative leverage. Our long-term target is to, for disposals to largely finance CapEx. Now, over the last three years, we have taken an active approach to those assets where we saw limited growth, with over GBP 700 million of sales.
We believe occupier and investor demand will remain strong for our long-life, loose-fit, low-carbon buildings, and consequently, we have invested over GBP 1.1 billion in our development CapEx and the acquisition of new super sites. This is our stock for the future. Creating value responsibly on slide six. We're making good progress with our net zero carbon 2030 pathway. We have achieved further substantial reductions in energy intensity and operational carbon ahead of our science-based targets. We have set clear embedded carbon targets that we're working hard to achieve. The proportion of our portfolio with an EPC rating of A or B increased to 62%, and we expect further progress in H2 and beyond.
Interesting, the group also owns 5,500 acres of land in Scotland, which is a key differentiator and provides a number of exciting sustainability opportunities, including our plan for a 107-acre solar park, which would generate substantial green electricity for our portfolio. Our balance sheet and financing structure are also strong, and Damian will provide full details later. Now turning to developments on slide eight. Our job is to keep creating fantastic offices and to stay ahead of the curve. We have a deep development pipeline which has the potential to deliver more than 2 million sq ft of best-in-class space over the next decade, which would nearly double the existing area. The already constrained Central London development pipeline is likely to be further curtailed by schemes being deferred or put on hold, given current market conditions and limited access to capital.
Now, 2022 completions. We have completed two projects since the start of the year. At Soho Place, a new destination where we've been involved for over 15 years, the head lease payment has now been made to TfL. The offices at 1 Soho Place were fully pre-let to Apollo and G-Research in 2019 on long leases at an average rent in excess of GBP 90 per sq ft. These are best-in-class net zero offices that offer all the amenities for which we are well known. The 34,000 sq ft retail element has been launched. The recent opening of the Elizabeth line has already positively impacted footfall in the area, and we're very confident in the outlook of this high-quality space.
At 2 to 4 Soho Place, this is the first new build theater in the West End for over 50 years, together with a new public square, which should finish in late June, and the building was forward sold. Now, the Featherstone building, the first tenants have leased space, taking it to 22% net at 10% ahead of ERV. We remain very confident in the quality of the building and the Old Street area. We continue to receive inquiries for the remaining space with ongoing viewings. Finally, the refurbishment of Francis House, which was pre-let to Edelman at double-digit premium to ERV, will complete in a few weeks. This is a great example of our repurposing activity. Turning now to 25 Baker Street. Good progress is being made with this on-site development, which commenced quarter four 2021.
The occupational market in this area is good, with little competing Grade A supply. Demolition would have now completed in line with budget and ground works are underway. Build cost inflation has become elevated, but we are pleased that we have fixed 97% of construction costs on the office element, which is 80% overall. Completion of this 300,000 sq ft Grade A scheme, where the main retail element is pre-sold, is due in H1 2025. The occupation market in Fitzrovia is strong, and there is very limited supply availability of Grade A space. Consequently, the strategic decision was taken in H1 to proceed with the office-led scheme. Demolition commenced in June on a fixed price build package, and our preferred contractor for the main construction contract has been selected. Again, we are targeting completion H2 2025.
Now, both these buildings have been designed by world-class architects and will have that special Derwent signature. Now to our future pipeline on Slide 12. This slide shows a selection of projects that we expect to deliver over the medium to long term. We have optionality on these projects which are either income producing or where we have not yet invested meaningful capital. We are working up exciting plans for Old Street Quarter, formerly the Moorfields estate, and we look forward to updating you all in due course. Together, these opportunities represent 1.3 million sq ft of prime space with high sustainability credentials, 100% uplift. As you can see, we are well placed to continue creating value for our investors through delivering inspiring and innovative space, which is in demand.
I'm now gonna hand over to Emily, who will take you through the occupational market in more detail.
Thank you, Paul. Turning to our occupational market. Through COVID, many businesses put real estate strategies on hold, but there's been a real re-engagement demonstrated by the rise in the number of companies looking for longer term space solutions. In terms of the occupational market backdrop, take-up across London of 6.4 million sq ft in H1 was 16% above the 10-year average. Market vacancy remains above long-term levels at 8.2%, but is now starting to reduce, down 0.6% since December. Beware of averages, however. West End vacancy has fallen for five consecutive quarters, now at 4.3%, and is back in line with its long-term average. City vacancy, by contrast, remains at nearly double its long-term average at 12.3%.
Market bifurcation continues, and there is a clear preference for Grade A space, which is already in relatively short supply, particularly in the West End. Space under offer is high at 4.3 million sq ft. In the West End, 1.7 million sq ft is under offer, 49% above the ten-year average. Turning now to the development pipeline and active demand on slide 15. Committed development completions over the next five years are below average at 13 million sq ft. 35% of this is already pre-let or under offer, and this is continuing for best-in-class product. The planning backdrop is getting tougher, and rising build and finance costs are combining to increase the likelihood of deferral of at least some proposed schemes. London continues to attract a wide range of businesses of various sizes across multiple sectors.
As you can see on the slide, CBRE and others estimate active demand in excess of 5 million sq ft. Slide 16. Looking now at our own leasing activity. We've seen a good level of transactions in H1, with 24 new leases agreed, totaling GBP 7.1 million, 9.3% above ERV. At Featherstone, which completed in H1, 22% is now let. The first leases were signed with Debt Agency and Marsh mallow for a combined rent of GBP 2.2 million. Momentum continues. We remain confident in the product and area, with further occupier discussions underway. Limited supply and the flight to quality, alongside the important role real estate has to play in retaining and attracting talent, means many businesses are prepared to pay premium rents for space that meets their requirements.
Our leasing activity reflects this, with leases agreed 10% ahead of ERV, both on newly completed space at the Featherstone Building and on secondhand but still high-quality space at White Collar Factory. Other examples include strong lettings at 90 Whitfield Street, the café space to Michael Coren, and two lettings of Furnished + Flexible in Q1 at 43 Whitfield Street, on average, substantially ahead of ERV, taking into account CapEx for fit-out. As you can see on the chart, non-pre-leasing activity over the last couple of years has recovered to close to long-run average. Over to our asset management activity. Our asset management team have been very busy over the period. During COVID, we saw many companies seeking short-term extensions as longer-term decisions were put on hold.
Encouragingly, there's been a shift in this pattern, and we've seen positive engagement for our occupiers planning much more for the long term. In H1, 30 re-gears, renewals, and reviews were settled. In a further endorsement for the Old Street area, long-standing Oliver's Yard occupier, Morningstar, having extended its lease for 12 months last year, have now agreed a renewal to 2027 on a rent 14% of ERV and 19% above previous rent. Vacancy. In line with our expectations, our EPRA vacancy rate increased from 1.6% to 6.5% in H1. Recent development and refurbishment completions comprise 72% of this. Slide 18. The role the office plays is complex. Its centrality, however, remains unchanged, especially given the challenges that increased agile working is presenting to many businesses. The flight to quality comprises multiple drivers.
Workspace needs to be well-designed, high quality, amenity-rich, and inspiring. It should enable innovation, collaboration, and collective productivity. Flex has become a post-COVID buzzword, and the term is often used generically to describe anything non-traditional in terms of leasing. We understand the true complexity of the subject and the focus on a more bespoke approach across our portfolio. This is a portfolio-wide and proactively addresses the needs of London's diverse and broad occupier base. Occupiers want to engage with a landlord who's prepared to take the time to understand their specific requirements. Be it small, high-growth businesses requiring more flexibility or larger, well-established blue-chip companies planning their U.K. or European H.Q.s and looking for long-term solutions, allowing them to business plan more effectively.
The top chart on the slide shows that despite the high profile, space occupied by flex and service office providers remains a relatively small, albeit important part of the London office market at sub 6%. The bottom chart shows the relative stability in our average lease length profile. What the chart does not show is the percentage of breaks that are actually exercised. Our relationship and ongoing customer engagement has helped us deliver high retention rates over many years, and this remains a focus across the portfolio. Finally, turning to slide 19. Key occupier demand drivers and the importance of amenity. Occupiers' needs increasingly extend beyond just the space covered by the lease itself. The credibility of the landlord, the overall service level provided, and the portfolio offer are all ever more important. Integral to our product offering is amenity.
At asset level, we provide generous space at ground floor and roof level, as well as high-quality end of trip facilities, setting a high bar in line with our occupier requirements for their workspace. At the portfolio level, we opened our new members club space at DL/78 in October last year, and it's already a huge success. This exciting initiative came about from being proactive and listening to our occupiers. On this slide, you can see some of our occupiers have specifically referenced DL/78 in their leasing negotiations. These discussions cover over GBP 5 million of income. We've also seen a tangible benefit in many asset management transactions in this regard. DL/78 is a real differentiator for Derwent as part of the overall offer, and we are currently exploring the potential to open a second space in the east in due course.
Thank you, and I'll now hand over to Damian, who will take us through our financial position.
Thanks very much, Emily, and good morning, everyone. Financial highlights for the half year are on slide 21. EPRA net tangible assets per share were up 1.6% to 423 pence per share, giving a total return of 3% after adding back dividends. Gross and net rental income were both up around 4% compared to H1 2021, but EPRA earnings per share were marginally lower, impacted by lower surrender premiums this time. Dividends for the year remain around 1.3 times covered by EPRA earnings, and we're increasing the interim dividend by 4.3% to 24 pence per share.
As announced last year, our borrowings have continued to rise, but are still modest, with a newly defined EPRA LTV ratio at 23.7%, compared with 22.3% at year-end. Note that the EPRA definition adds in net payables and receivables from the balance sheet, increasing the LTV by about 1% compared to our previous definitions. Full details of the old and new calculations are in note 25 to the statement. Interest cover has fallen a little on these higher borrowings, but remains strong at around 4.2 times for the first half. Now, with the focus on rising inflation and interest rates, slide 22 sets out our debt position.
It also includes a summary, a pro forma, taking account of the GBP 126 million proceeds in July from the sales of Bush House and 2 and 4 Soho Place, bringing our EPRA LTV down to 22%, with undrawn facilities and cash up to GBP 578 million. After last November's GBP 350 million green bond issue, the weighted average maturity of our borrowings is just over six and a half years, with our first major debt maturity in October 2024. Green qualifying expenditure at the 30th of June was up to GBP 597.6 million. GBP 142.6 million above amounts drawn. This amount has also increased following the recent property disposals. Slide 23. Interest rates have been rising from their very low base, so let's look at our protection from rising rates.
Over 90% of net debt at the 30th of June was at fixed rates, on top of which we have a GBP 75 million interest rate swap at 1.36% available until April 2025. Our debt covenants are very well covered, with both income and valuations capable of falling by over 60%. Now looking at the debt profile in order of maturity. The secured loan expiring in October 2024 has a rate of 3.99%, close to current market. Refinancing this would not significantly impact our earnings. The convertible bonds mature in June 2025, and again, if refinanced today with another convertible, would not have a material impact on earnings. Our 6.5% secured bonds, a legacy from the LMS merger in 2007, mature in March 2026.
One benefit of rising rates is that any break costs have reduced significantly over the last six months. Finally, both our private placement notes and the recent green bonds have long dated maturities of 8.2 and 9.4 years, respectively. Committed CapEx is on slide 24. After GBP 70 million of CapEx spend in the first half, we're forecasting a similar amount in H2 with a further GBP 183 million in 2023. These amounts include part of the retail and residential at our 25 Baker Street site, which is due to be sold and is therefore classified as trading activity. In the first half, we also incurred GBP 72 million on acquisition of the Soho Place head lease from TfL together with associated SDLT. Note also that future CapEx shown as other in the light blue includes 2030 EPC upgrades. As usual, more details are in appendices 44 and 45.
Slide 25, the pro forma financial position after future committed expenditure on major schemes is indicated here. Helped by the recent property sales, it shows good headroom on all our key financing figures. Committed expenditure of GBP 359 million is comfortably covered by available facilities. As usual, this pro forma only includes income and disposals already contracted. Note that we have not included the GBP 239 million long-term acquisition cost in relation to the Old Street Quarter site, as this will not complete before 2027. Slide 26. The EPRA NTA movement is shown here. The increase coming from a revaluation uplift of 64 pence per share, with other earnings almost matched by the final 2021 dividend paid. On slide 27, we show EPRA earnings.
Rental income was GBP 3.6 million higher than a year ago, but EPRA earnings were affected by net surrender premiums, GBP 3.2 million lower. Rent collection, shown in Appendix 8, is now running very close to pre-COVID levels, with few requests for financial help, and we've seen a small GBP 0.6 million reversal of impairment charges in H1. Property expenditure was slightly higher in the first half, but admin expenses were lower, the latter due mainly to reduced management incentives. Finance costs increased to GBP 18.5 million on higher average borrowings and lower capitalized interest following completion of the schemes at Soho Place and Featherstone. Slide 28.
Gross rents were up 3.7%, with Soho Place adding GBP 3.7 million post-lease commencement, but with other movements fairly flat and a higher vacancy rate at the 30th of June. The growth in rent has come mainly from the new developments. Average rental growth was modest across the rest of the portfolio, with like-for-like gross rents up just over 1% and net rents up 2.5% compared to both H1 and H2 2021. More details are in Appendix 9. Thank you very much, and now over to Nigel.
Thank you, Damian, and good morning. Slide 30, valuation. First turning to the valuers. CBRE has been the group's main valuer for several years. This year, we began the process of transitioning to Knight Frank, and in H1, the valuation was undertaken on a shared basis. This followed an earlier shadowing exercise, which did not reveal any material differences in either approach or outcome. At the full year 2022, Knight Frank will become the principal valuer. Now looking at performance. Both the leasing and investment markets were active, especially the flight to quality buildings for rents and long-term income for investments. This translated into a 1.7% valuation uplift over the half year. Developments were the main driver, up 8.5%. We completed Soho Place and the Featherstone building, and they produced a combined profit on cost of 27%.
Our next developments, 25 Baker Street and Network, are well underway. Excluding developments, the balance of the portfolio was up 0.6%. We continue to see a greater focus by the valuers on obsolescence and the potential CapEx required to meet the evolving EPC requirements. A lot will depend on a building's business plan, such as refurbishment or redevelopment to improve rents and value. As a ballpark estimate, there is GBP 50 million embedded as a cost in this valuation. Slide 31, property return. Our total property return was 3.3%, and this was above the MSCI benchmark of 2.5%. It was driven by several factors. Supporting values were yield compression on quality assets, the release of development surpluses, uplift at Bush House prior to disposal, continued rent-free runoffs from our development program, and leasing and asset management initiatives above ERV.
Whereas longer void assumptions on shorter lease properties, some outward yield movement on secondary properties and the EPC costs held values back. Rental values and yields. Slide 32. ERVs were up 0.9%, slightly ahead of the index, and retail is stabilizing. At the top end, there was some yield compression over the first half, mainly on new high-quality buildings such as 80 Charlotte Street and Brunel. These and the inclusion of Soho Place following its completion resulted in a 4 basis points tightening in our equivalent yield. Looking now quickly at the build-up of ERV, slide 33. The chart on the right shows the change since the year-end, and just a few points on the chart. Contracted uplifts rose to 68.1% as we completed the leases at Soho Place, which included Apollo and G-Research.
On-site developments now include Network with the Featherstone building and the retail at Soho Place moving into vacant available. This has taken the ERV of the vacant space to GBP 17.3 million, equivalent to 6.5% vacancy rate. Overall, the portfolio ERV has risen to GBP 303 million. Now more on our activity. Slide 34. Following a busy 2021, activity levels have remained high. Acquisitions since the first half totaled GBP 130 million and includes the head lease payment to TfL for Soho Place following completion. Disposals to date are GBP 189 million. There was the sale of New River Yard in the first half. Since then, we've completed the disposal of Bush House and 2-4 Soho Place, which is the theater and offices above. We continue to review further disposals.
Looking at the activity in a little more detail, slide 35. Both Blackfriars Road and Old Street Quarter are significant additions to our long-term development pipeline. At Blackfriars, our appraisals suggest the site can cope with probably three times the floor area, given the substantial surface car park at the rear. In the meantime, we've let the vacant space and achieved above ERVs on acquisition. At Old Street Quarter, we've exchanged conditional contracts to acquire 2.5 acre, this 2.5-acre site. This will complete once the new eye hospital in St. Pancras has been delivered, which is expected in 2027. Studies remain at an early stage, but engagement with the planners suggest the potential for more than 750,000 sq ft. We will keep you updated with our plans on this significant project. Major disposals.
New River Yard only had limited scope to be upgraded. With 13 tenants on short leases across four buildings, we have other opportunities where higher returns are expected, so we chose to recycle. At Bush House, the disposal price reflected a premium of more than 40% to the December book value. This allowed us to effectively crystallize our expected development returns early with no risk. Now a couple of slides on sustainability. Slide 38. In 2020, we published a pathway for a net zero carbon company by 2030. Our targets are aligned with a 1.5 degree climate change scenario. Our carbon emissions fall into three scopes and subdivide into operational and embodied, which is set out here. The two charts show how the progress from the 2019 baseline.
On the left, our energy usage is reduced by 24%. Our operational carbon footprint on the right has dropped by 33%. Looking at the progress in more detail. Our energy reduction pathway is shown on the top chart. This is to reduce by average 4% per annum from the 2019 baseline. Achieving this will deliver a 33% reduction in 2027 and 44% by 2030. Our progress is shown below. While there'll be some distortions from COVID and the easing of lockdowns, we're on the right path with a 17% reduction in energy intensity between 2019 and 2021. Performance in the first half of 2022 suggests we're on course for this year. To achieve our aims, we monitor performance of building specific targets.
We have improved our green lease clauses to allow more collaboration, and we have a program of occupier engagement to help reduce energy usage. Lastly, we've committed to rolling out intelligent building infrastructure across 50% of our managed portfolio using Johnson Controls to enhance our data and understanding. Embodied carbon, slide 40. Our developments are a key source of value creation, but they are also a major contributor to our carbon footprint in the form of embodied carbon. Occupiers have a clear preference for net zero carbon buildings with high sustainability credentials, but are also keen to reduce embodied carbon. This aim is shared by local authorities, which have also set formal targets. These align with our own targets of 600 kilograms or less carbon per sq m by 2025 and 500 kilograms or less by 2030.
The chart shows the progress at our projects. We're on target. Our first net zero building, 80 Charlotte Street, was delivered in line with our 2030 target, and both Soho Place and The Featherstone, which completed in the first half of this year, are within our 25 target. To help achieve this, we have a responsible development framework. This covers areas including design, use of low carbon materials, and construction methods. Finally, a little bit about Scotland. Our target's to have our electricity and gas on green tariffs. For electricity, this has been the case since 2018. In 2021, 23% of our gas was on green tariffs, and we're looking to address this as the contracts renew later this year. On the electricity side, an initiative we are undertaking on our Scottish land.
To take our electricity sourcing a stage further, we're looking at self-generation. This is an important differentiator for Derwent. In July, we received resolution to grant planning consent to build an 18.4 megawatt solar park on 107 acres, comprising of about 60,000 panels. To put this into context, we could self-generate about 40% of the electricity used across the London managed portfolio. Now back to Paul.
Thank you, Nigel. Excuse me. The flight to quality continues to gain pace. We are seeing companies engage with long-term occupational strategies with expansion against a backdrop of low supply of high-quality space. Now, for the right product, occupiers are prepared to pay a premium rent, as demonstrated by our leasing activity. Our portfolio has substantial reversion of over GBP 50 million, excluding contracted developments, which we expect to capture through ongoing leasing and asset management activity. We spent the last few years reshaping our portfolio, retaining better buildings and investing in the pipeline, leaving us well-placed in the transition to the greener future. Recent acquisitions, including several super sites, provide great opportunities supported by our strong balance sheet and no gearing. We have an experienced management team that has worked through many cycles. Derwent is very well-placed.
I will now hand over to Q&A. Thank you. Osmaan.
Morning team, Osmaan Malik from UBS. In your statement, there's quite an interesting paragraph, where you mentioned that you have been retaining recently completed developments for longer, given the flight to quality. I just wanted to dig into that a little bit more if I can. There are three broad questions. One is how much is left with this recycling? Are you looking to sell more product that you don't think meets or you can refurbish to prime, over the medium term? The first question, how much is left?
Second question is, w ell, has something changed around your definition of prime? Presumably you thought you could get a reasonably prime refurbishment of these properties before, so has something changed? That's the second question. I guess the final part is, I think previously what we were expected was that once you get a completed development that's reasonably dry, you've fully leased it on long-term letting, you then sell it, recycle the capital into something you see a better return on. Is that changing? Are we expecting a structurally lower level of forward return here? Could you just discuss a little bit more around why you're retaining some of these assets for longer and what that means for the return profile?
Three good questions. Firstly, turning to sales. I think we're doing a bit more again this year. We've got a few smaller buildings on the market, and actually we're getting some very good bids for that. I think we might look to sell sort of GBP 100 million this year. I think we've had a really good run of selling what we would consider the weaker product, including Johnson and Angel Square, and this year, both Bush House and Rosebery Avenue. You'll probably see a little bit more recycling. Some of our stuff that we're keeping back we might call slightly less prime is our stock for the future. You know, our job is to turn brown buildings into green buildings and see some opportunities.
The sales have really been probably mostly focused on those buildings where we don't think we can add much area, where we think planning might be very difficult to secure a bit, a big uplift. I think you'll sell a little bit more selling. We're delighted with what we've sold so far. I'm gonna ask Nigel to add a bit of comment on that, to what more we see.
Yeah. I mean, on the recycling, holding the better buildings longer, you know, you take something like Brunel, there's rental growth there as well. You know, we may have done our asset management, we may have done our development, but there is asset management within those buildings, and there's rental growth potential. It's not a case of that, you know, they're dry. You've also got rent-free burn-offs, which will give you know, some valuation uplift over the few years. They are performing better, and that's another reason why, you know, why we want to hold them. Roughly the portfolio's split 50 core income, 50%, you know, added value.
I think for us it's clearing out some of that smaller added value stuff where, you know, you can add a bit of value, but it's so small it takes up a lot of management time.
I mean, it's very difficult to sort of define prime because actually what is in demand? If you look at our wonderful Tea Building in Shoreditch, you know, it's constantly in demand. We bought that many years. I wouldn't say that's a new flashy building, but it's the right product for that particular area. Similarly down, if we look down at Greencoat House in Victoria, we've got an old depository there. We've pre-let to Endemol Shine , I think 16% above ERV. So I think it's coming down to what is the right product. We announced last year a change of strategy. I would say nothing's forever because obviously if something came along, we thought we couldn't add any more value and we thought, you know, we got an amazing bid, we would look at it.
I think that's where demand lies, both in respect of the investment market and also letting market. We are, despite core income being just core income, it's not dry. There's a lot to do. I mean, Paddington, Emily, is in strong demand, isn't it?
Yeah, Paddington as a sub-market itself and within our own Brunel Building, you know, there's a lot of great story there. As Nigel says, there's definitely ERV movement to come.
Emily complains we were too successful at pre-letting. We should have kept some space back. We would've got some more ERV growth. You know, we've continued a bit of recycling, but we've got ourselves into a great place for the balance of the portfolio. You can see the evidence of what rents could be paid for really great space, 9.5% above ERV. Next question. Max.
Morning. Max Sherwood at Numis. Maybe firstly just on the occupier side of the market. We're obviously starting to hear a little bit more about some tech companies laying off workers. Are you seeing any of that kind of change in the sentiment in terms of some of the occupiers and what they're looking for? You know, I'm thinking of Microsoft were looking for 500,000 sq ft in the city. Is that still the case? This kind of stuff. And secondly, a slightly technical one on the yields. You saw four basis points of yield tightening, but I think that included, as you said, Soho Place and Featherstone. If you took them out, what would be your kind of like for like yield movement, if you have that? Thank you.
Well, I'm gonna pass the first part of your question to Emily. I mean, firstly on the tech, I think they've slowed their expansions. There's still good demand out from a whole variety of different occupiers for London. Emily.
Yeah, I think that there have been headlines, particularly in the FAANG, the big tech cos who have said that they're slowing down the increase of real estate space. They're still growing their headcounts. In terms of the business themselves, they're still growing. I think the reality in that sector is they have been slower to come back to the office. They're just trying to adjust to the sort of more agile workforce that they've got. The small, the SME size and the tech sector, it's still pretty fast-paced, and there's still quite a lot of active requirements out there, particularly in the eastern fringes.
Positively, I think from a London perspective, it's the professional corporates and larger occupiers that we've seen really re-engage in the market in terms of looking for London HQs, even European HQs, who are sort of showing good endorsement to London overall. It's a mixed bag, but I think where you're losing some of the growth from the techs, we are seeing some new sectors coming through, often interlinked to the techs nowadays, obviously in terms of life science and others. There's still a good level of mixed demand across the board.
We're seeing some of the tech bosses coming to London, I see, I read this week. They obviously come for the weather or the fact that London is fantastic. London's a great global city. We attract all sorts of occupiers. Nigel, on the valuation and the technical. If you strip out Soho Place and the developments, that four would go to about three. If you take out 80 Charlotte and Brunel's, that's really where that three came from. The others are either flat or is a little bit down.
I mean, overall, if 50% i f you look at the donut of the core was up about, you know, 2.5%, and the other 50%, which is the sort of working stock within value, was down about 0.5%, and that gives you your 1.7, roughly, when you play around with the numbers. Thank you, Max. Any other questions from the floor? Have we got a question for the conference call?
The first question is from Paul May from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Hi, team. Thanks very much for the presentation and the results today. Just wanted to focus a little bit on the return potential for, say, the value-added product, you know, and obviously the comments around route expansion. You're obviously also seeing costs increasing as well, so not only in materials, but also in financing costs for delivering new projects. Your costs are going up and potentially your exit yield is also expanding as well. Just wondering what expected returns you're looking at the moment, either on current projects or on upcoming projects over the medium term. Have those come down or are you trying to adjust things accordingly or do you think rental growth will offset those increased costs? Thank you.
Thank you, Paul, and good question. Firstly in respect of construction costs, we are obviously we have seen a big rise from a long period of stagnation. I think the houses are saying something like 5.5% this year. I think we feel a bit more cautious. I think it's closer to 8%, but inflation's built into our appraisals. I think inflation may come down next year. Of course, construction cost inflation is just a part of the story. I mean, it's construction's only probably a third of the GDV. So, you know, 8% is 3% as part of the appraisal. I mean, historically, we've targeted something like 20% profit on costs. I think these days, maybe 15% is pretty good.
We are seeing really good lettings ahead of our ERV, not just in up in the brand-new buildings. I think with good ERV growth, a bit of inflation, I think we're pretty confident of those sort of returns. I think yields will remain pretty good for the better stock. Of course, these opportunities are for the future. You know, we've got to try and create the value. Nigel, do you want to add anything to that?
Yeah. I mean, we've put our normal, you know, slide in the back, which shows you the profit on cost. As we mentioned, we got, I think, 27% on the two we've just completed. The value-add figure for Baker Street and Network is, I think it's about 13% as we sit here today. The way they value is there's normally about 25 basis points on the yield because it's spec, and we'd also hopefully beat ERV. You know, that 13% is sort of a starting point, and we'd hope to do a lot better than that, you know. On the lease, getting ERV growth and possibly some yield shift, maybe not as much, but it does depend on the letting side.
The other sort of number that could affect that is the construction. You know, we're thinking we're 80% fixed on Baker Street, so we're 100% fixed on the demolition at Network. Our exposure is really the construction cost at Network, which is roughly about GBP 100.
No, just a bit less.
About 100. You could have a bit of a movement on that, but we should know that figure over the next few months.
We work with tier one contractors who seem to like to work with our top quality space, so I think we remain pretty confident in securing it. We've upped a little bit inflation into our appraisals, haven't we, Damian? We saw it coming.
Thank you, Paul. Have we got any more questions from the conference calls? No? Anything from webcast? Looks like. Is there? No. Okay. Well, thank you very much for everyone attending today. Enjoy the weather. We're all around later if anyone wants any further questions. Again, thank you, and have a good day.