Land Securities has sold two office assets in East London - 110 Cannon Street and Martin House - to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) for around £48.5 mln (EUR 55 mln). 110 Cannon Street is currently at the preliminary stages of a major 6,800 m2 refurbishment due to complete in spring 2012. Martin House, located to the rear of 110 Cannon Street, is fully let to five separate tenants.

As part of the sale, the contractor and professional team working on the Cannon Street refurbishment will be retained by USS. Robert Noel, managing director of Land Securities' London Portfolio, said: 'There continues to be real momentum in the London market as it moves into supply constrained conditions. Our early mover advantage in bringing forward potential developments is giving us plenty of opportunity to create value.'

As with the sale of Park House in west London last year, Land Securities said it will recycle the proceeds into other opportunities such as at 30 Old Bailey and 60 Ludgate Hill, EC4 , where the company received planning permission earlier this month for a 375,000 sq ft (35,000 m2) redevelopment aimed for completion by December 2013.

Graham Burnett, Head of Property at USS, said: 'The purchase of this property increases the amount invested by USS into UK real estate over the last two years to in excess of £1.1 bn and we continue to remain very active across all of our key markets.'

Knight Frank acted for USS in the transaction.