Dukes property group sees another strong year

The Duke of Westminster’s property company today unveiled 2006 results revealing a 23% rise in the value of its portfolio, including the UK’s most expensive office block, 77 Grosvenor Street.

The Grosvenor Group hit the headlines earlier this year when its exclusive 77 Grosvenor Street property set a record for the most expensive commercial rent in the UK, costing £120 (€176) a square foot, which is also thought to be the highest charged in the world.

The group, which owns a raft of properties built on the Grosvenor family’s traditional holdings in Mayfair, Belgravia and Knightsbridge, said that its property assets shot up in value last year by nearly a quarter, from £3.73bn (€1.07bn) in 2005 to £4.59bn (€6.7bn).