We are first and foremost a commercial organisation which exists, under Act of Parliament, to manage a range of urban, rural and marine assets throughout the UK.

Our total capital value is over £6.6 billion. Over the last ten years the capital value of the estate has increased by £2.6 billion and we have paid a total of £1.9 billion to the Treasury.

The estate is run on modern commercial lines over the three properties sectors of urban, rural and marine but heritage and conservation issues also predominate; we own over 1,000 listed buildings, 37 per cent of which are Grade 1 (compared with the national average of 2.5%) and there are over 400 Sites of Special Scientific Interest on our rural and marine estates.

The key facts set out here illustrate how the estates, individually and together, contribute to our commercial and cultural life:

• £210.7 million in net income surplus – all of our net revenue generated annually is paid to the Treasury

• The portfolio is actively managed: on our urban estate for instance we completed more than £600 million worth of capital transactions during 2009/10 as we continued to rebalance the portfolio in line with our strategy

• Our land and property is let through around 12,000 tenancies across the UK

• The urban portfolio represents more than 74 per cent of our entire property value, and over 76 per cent of our gross income surplus. It includes shops, offices, retail and business parks, industrial sites and residential properties

• We have around 1,200 units let on monthly regulated or assured tenancies in London.

• Almost all of the property in London’s Regent Street and Regent’s Park belongs to The Crown Estate

• The marine estate includes more than 55 per cent of the UK’s foreshore, tidal river-beds and almost all of the seabed within the 12 nautical miles limit – including rights to all minerals but excluding hydrocarbons

• With 145,000 hectares (358,000 acres) we have one of the largest rural estates in the UK

• Windsor Great Park, the only Royal Park owned and managed by ourselves, is enjoyed by around two and a half million visitors every year

• Rights to all naturally occurring gold and silver – the Mines Royal – belong to The Crown Estate.