British Land, which counts the Glasgow Fort retail park among its portfolio, said the UK commercial property sector had a strong end to 2013.

It indicated the London market continued to strengthen but domesitc and international investment was now spreading out into regional markets.

Like-for-like occupancy across its office and retail interests rose 0.3% to 97.1%, with the figure at recently completed developments at 96.5%.

Chris Grigg, chief executive, said: "In retail, the economic recovery is having a positive impact on confidence and we continued to benefit from retailers looking to take space in the best quality locations."

British Land also said it was changing its auditor from Deloitte to PwC from the start of April.