Recently in Regeneration Category

BCSC Retail Summit: Town centres need revolution.

By Graham Shone on May 15, 2013 9:07 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Yesterday's Estates Gazette/BCSC Retail Summit gave the strongest impression yet that the industry is ready to cut loose the chains of its troublesome recent history, and focus on creating a bright and prosperous future.

The most stark indication of this attitude came from Distressed Property Taskforce chairman Mark Williams, who said categorically that the industry group was focused solely on the future - and it looks like being one borne of something of a revolution in retail property.

Williams said what everyone already knows - that there is an oversupply of retail space in this country; but added that in some locations the oversupply is by a factor of around 50%, and that levels of regeneration not seen since World War II are necessary to recalibrate the retail market in those long-suffering locales.

Last year's BCSC Conference was laden with references to 'managing' town centres as one would a major shopping centre - and that theme was heavily expanded on yesterday. New River Retail's Charles Miller told the room that investment in a major mall is not just about what you're buying, but the surrounding area; and how crucial it is to create fusion, rather than friction, between the two.

It was mentioned on numerous occasions by more than one speaker that fractured town centre ownership is stymieing the requisite improvement in high streets, and engenders the old-style laissez-faire landlordship once leases are secured.

In the interest of combating such attitudes, Peter Brett Associates launched their 'Town Centre Investment Management' (TCIM) initiative during the afternoon session. It is designed with the expressed intention of bringing investment back into the high street by using an adapted form of Local Authorities' CPO powers to bring about uniformity of town centre ownership.

Whilst these aren't necessarily new ideas, the belief is that with the momentum currently behind town centre regeneration and the ongoing political discussions around the subject, now could be the best time to force political will in the direction of supplying proper solutions to those well-documented town centre problems.

Political will could yet prove to be the greatest stumbling block to securing that bright future for the retail industry. Consents still fly in for out-of-town developments, occasionally going against the recommendation of planning officers, and there was a palpable scepticism in the room when asked if Local Authorities had the collective desire to make a policy such as TCIM work in the long term.

BCSC President and Chaiman Marcus Kilby said in his summary of the day's discussions that 2013 could yet be the year looked back on in a decade or so as the year in which the retail industry began its crucial evolution into an overwhelming success story. The first shoots of that evolution are present, without question; but there remain several overarching caveats that must be addressed before that first great leap forward.

Momentum for Coventry's retail future

By Graham Shone on March 12, 2013 9:09 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

News broke yesterday of Friargate Coventry LLP's agreement with landscape architect Gross Max to deliver the public realm of their gigantic 37-acre development to the south of the city centre.

The office-led development is now set to get underway later this year - bringing 2.4 million sq ft of new office space to south Coventry, in addition to over 200,000 sq ft of retail.

This is one of three schemes in Coventry City centre which promise a total of around 1 million sq ft of newly-built retail space - the other two being Barberry's proposed redevelopment of the Royal Mail sorting office on Bishop Street; and the mammoth project adjacent to Friargate being undertaken by Coventry City Council and Aviva.

The image below shows the location & scale of these projects; with Friargate outlined in red, the city centre development outlined in blue, and Barberry's site in Orange.

Despite being the UK's 11th-largest city, Coventry currently lags in 49th position nationwide according to retail spend - and so the need for an overhaul of an enormous chunk of the city centre is of paramount importance to ensuring a successful future for this under-performing Midlands giant.

The notion of work getting underway on Friargate by the end of this year is encouraging to say the least. By that time, a development partner ought to have been secured for Aviva's retail-led city centre scheme, and that staggering total of 1 million sq ft of new retail space may take another giant leap closer to becoming a reality.

'Westfield Croydon' application registered

By Graham Shone on February 18, 2013 11:12 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Last month's seminal announcement over Croydon's retail future led me, among many others, to ponder over what the exact specifications of the new joint venture project would be.

I suggested that a new application towards the end of 2013 might take on the guise of Hammerson's "Whitgift Quarter" proposals, spanning across Croydon's two mammoth retail developments, Centrale and Whitgift, rather than separate applications for each scheme.

It appears I was wrong.

Two weeks ago, Croydon Council registered (for the first time) the full application lodged in September by Westfield, after having put forward a scoping opinion a couple of months prior. The applicant is now listed on the (amended) application form as 'Westfield Shoppingtowns Limited & Hammerson UK Properties PLC':

Strangely, the applicant listed on the 'application details' has changed over the weekend from the above to simply 'Westfield Shopping Towns Limited'. What we read into that, I don't know.

All documents within the newly-registered application make occasional reference to Centrale's role in the Croydon facelift, and make almost no mention of Hammerson at all! It's also interesting that the Design & Access statement for 'Westfield Croydon' (!) makes a pointed reference to the successful regeneration of King's Cross as being a precedent for a redevelopment of this scale.

So it appears that Hammerson is happy to "piggy-back" onto Westfield's concept for the Whitgift Centre redevelopment, having already secured consent in May 2012 to part-redevelop Centrale into a distinctly mixed-use mall.

Can we conclude, therefore, that the project will move forward as a double-pronged concept? Will the Westfield-branded shopping mall outlined in the new application come to pass? Can the 170,000 sq ft of leisure space proposed by Westfield coexist with the 99,000 sq ft currently permitted at Centrale?

If the answer to all of these is 'yes', then the exciting announcement made in January may not, in fact, yield an organic regeneration brainwave concocted by two retail heavyweights - but actually simply serve as a catalyst to accelerate two separate projects which could possibly have come to pass independently.

I suppose I would just be a little disappointed that the 'vision' for Croydon might simply turn out to be a staccato amalgamation of separate concepts, as opposed to an inspired 'meeting-of-minds' development spanning over both malls which could truly rubber-stamp the identity of the unique joint venture on the south London town.

If the development is to be as described herein, then the key piece of cross-party co-operation will come in ensuring the complementary nature of the retail and leisure offer across both redeveloped schemes. 'Hammerfield' must ensure that the newly created "Quarter" evolves as a singular, functional retail core, and not as one entity prospering at the expense of the other.

Croydon Impasse Finally Resolved.

By Graham Shone on January 17, 2013 9:02 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

A new year brings new allegiances, and if 2013 brings a more noteworthy one than the Westfield/Hammerson joint venture announced today, it might well cause the property industry to implode.

So many column inches last year were dedicated to the 'impasse' between the two heavyweights over the proposed redevelopment of Croydon's Whitgift Centre - and with it, the potential to dominate South London's retail and leisure scene for the foreseeable future.

The origin of the feud came via this story in November 2011, when it was announced that Westfield had began exclusive discussions over the scheme redevelopment with freeholder and 25% long leaseholder, The Whitgift Foundation. Fellow long leaseholders, Royal London Asset Management and Anglo Irish Bank didn't take too kindly to this being announced without their blessing, and so backed Centrale owner Hammerson to oversee the regeneration of both malls.

Since then, we've had 14 months of carefully-designed surveys, various planning applications, 'battle lines' being drawn, mayoral opinions, and even presidential election-esque tactics, as each developer strained to one-up its rival. But now, thankfully, we have a resolution.

A press conference taking place this morning will reveal more details behind the joint venture's proposals for Croydon, so it's unclear at present if existing planning applications or consents will be factored into the £1 billion regeneration project.

Hammerson obtained permission in May 2012 to reconfigure 140,000 sq ft of retail space at Centrale into an 11-screen cinema, two flagship retail stores and eight restaurant units. For its part, Westfield has lodged an application for the redevelopment of the Whitgift Centre, with 1.3 million sq ft of retail space, and 150,000 sq ft dedicated to leisure.

One would, however, anticipate an entirely new proposal to be lodged - and I imagine that it will be Hammerson's "Whitgift Quarter" - an amalgamation of both schemes - that provides the blueprint for the joint venture to take forward.

In any event, it's terrific news for Croydon residents and Croydon Council after over a year of uncertainty - they have two heavyweight developers with an unrivalled wealth of combined expertise in how to build large, successful schemes. Lets hope that the joint venture yields more than the sum of its parts, and that the town can finally live up to its enormous potential.

Revolutionary Retail.

By Graham Shone on August 29, 2012 10:31 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Marks and Spencer's 150,000 sq ft Cheshire Oaks outlet opens today, marking the culmination of a seven-year project for the retailer, and perhaps a new dawn in sustainable retail development.

The store is M&S' second-largest outlet in the U.K. behind the Oxford Street flagship, and opens during a troublesome year for the brand in which profits have dipped and heads have rolled.

From an environmental point of view, the store seems a success without even trading so much as a penny. Features such as the breathable walls, displacement ventilation, biomass boiler and the rainwater harvesting system will all contribute to the a reduction in the store's carbon usage, energy consumption and reliance on mains supply.

To see such a prominent retail brand follow through with an environmental project of this scale is indeed encouraging, and has drawn deserved acclaim even from those who criticised the project soon after its inception. But for CEO Mark Bolland and his fellow M&S executives, what will surely matter most is what level of commercial success the store achieves.

To this end, the retailer has chosen the Cheshire Oaks outlet as the first to feature free Wi-Fi - soon to be rolled out nationwide - to complement other innovations such as QR codes, dotted around the store in order to supply customers with more information about products and the shop itself.

Staff will be armed with iPads to help navigate patrons around the various elements of the store, including an 18,000 sq ft 'Home' department - larger than that of Oxford Street - and the new skincare section. There are also deli counters and bakeries located around the store, in addition to two cafes.

Being, as it is, an unprecedented venture in terms of both product range and store design, the shop will undoubtedly provide the 'unique customer experience' mentioned by M&S director of retail, Steve Rowe. The challenge for Marks and Spencer is to ensure that the shop's performance doesn't suffer once the novelty factor disappears, as with an ambitious and revolutionary project such as this, the key to long-term success is sustainability.

Environmentally, Marks and Spencer have ensured that the store is possibly more sustainable than any other in the country - but they have to remain ahead of the curve in terms of technological innovation and product selection to ensure longevity for the store's commercial success.

Westfield Bradford: A new dawn, or a repeated cycle?

By Graham Shone on August 1, 2012 11:12 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

For Bradford residents, last month's announcement that Marks & Spencer and Next had agreed deals to anchor Westfield's proposed mega-mall in their city might have given them a sense of deja-vu.

The news would have sounded strikingly similar to something they may also have heard in May 2008, since which time the project has suffered almost irreversible damage at the hands of the recession, leading many in the town to abandon hope that the proposed scheme will ever get built.

Construction on the development was abandoned in February 2009, and the 12-acre site has lain vacant ever since. The 'hole-in-the-ground' is encircled by graffiti-plastered hoardings which illustrate in no uncertain terms the level of resentment felt in the town towards Westfield - initially latent, now vociferous - and exacerbated in no small part by the Australian developer's financial commitments to their schemes in the south.

The battle to redevelop Croydon's Whitgift Centre now appears to be at the forefront of Westfield's plans for the U.K. - with the developer claiming it is ready to spend £1 billion on the project. It emerged yesterday that the company wants to treble that investment across the UK - but with an expressed focus on London-based developments.

A parody Westfield Bradford twitter account commented: "Westfield's £3bn commitment includes Bradford...to the tune of £12.70...including VAT", before adding: "...there is actually no evidence Westfield wants to spend £12.70 in Bradford - sorry if I got your hopes up."

This rather accurately summarises the sentiment in Bradford surrounding Westfield. They have had to stand by whilst the company plunged around £1,743m into Westfield Stratford City, simultaneously scaling down the Bradford project from a £350m scheme into a £275m scheme - all against the backdrop of a big, empty patch of land in their city centre. Now, with Westfield claiming to be looking at a £3bn investment in the UK, there remains no real indication that we won't be back here again in four years, with retailers once again re-affirming their commitment to a mall which only exists on paper, in a city exasperated by endless setbacks.

I've no doubt that Westfield are doing all they can to deliver the Bradford scheme, and they will point to the fact that the anchor deals are for the revised development given permission last October, indicating that the scheme remains deliverable. However; until the mall is open and thriving, the Yorkshire city's level of contempt, frustration and despair will remain ardent - and even then, it might not fully disappear.

Analysis: April Sales Figures.

By Graham Shone on May 23, 2012 2:29 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The ONS today released April's sales figures, revealing that on a month-to-month basis the British public has spent less across all sectors of retail - resulting in a 2.3% decrease in total retail sales.

This has, in fact, largely been the case over the last four years. March tends to provide an early-year boost to sales figures, resulting in a return to something approaching normalcy in April - indicated by the chart below.

Perhaps a fairer reflection on how April 2012 performed is to look at a year-on-year comparison. Yearly sales overall were down almost £500 million on April 2011, and sales excluding petrol were down by around £288 million. Some sectors, however, saw an increase in spending - namely non-specialised stores, household goods and non-store retailing - which I'll come to later. The graph below indicates that this April essentially returned to levels seen in years previous (when petrol sales are excluded) - this could point to April 2011 being something of a Royal-Wedding-inspired anomaly.

I think the decline in year on year figures can largely be explained away by a combination of the lack of nationally-celebrated nuptials (with the additional bonus of an extra bank holiday) and, of course, the wettest April since 1910. The fact that some sectors seem to have picked up since 12 months ago is also slightly encouraging.

One interesting piece of information I picked up from the figures is that although some sectors of retail increased slightly; the only one showing a steady increase over a number of years is 'non-store retailing' - which, one can surmise, reveals the ever-increasing tendency to shop online.

This graph indicates the increase in sales figures for non-store retailing in the month of April since 2000. Despite the aforementioned £288 million decrease in overall sales from 2011-12, non-store sales increased by around £162.5 million overall. This simply points to the robustness of the on-line retail environment, and to the nature of the challenge facing those who wish to return Britain's high streets and town centres to their former glory.

The on-line retail revolution was pointed to by GVA's 'Unlocking Town Centre Retail Developments' today as one of the main reasons for the high street decline - as retailers continue to row back their requirements for physical space in lieu of pursuing multi-channel sales. On this evidence, it's hard to see how the high street can fight back, and enjoy a similar upward curve in years to come.

'Portas Pilot' Entries - A Few Favourites...

By Graham Shone on May 15, 2012 9:15 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

Housing & Local Government Minister Grant Shapps tweeted yesterday that the successful bids for town centre regeneration funds via the 'Portas Pilot' scheme will be announced at the end of the month.

With hundreds of entries reportedly clamouring for the cash, I had a look at a few of the video entries to get an impression of how the town teams were going about pitching to the government.

With an extremely broad creative brief, it is of little surprise that each submission differs from the last - and as such, it's extremely difficult to judge which ones will be successful. There are some which unimaginatively point the camera at vacant stores with the word 'Help' emblazoned across the screen, and others who have clearly tried to stand out by engaging the town in wacky dance routines in various (former) retail hotspots.

The ones which I found most appealing came from towns such as St. Austell, Warwick, Grantham and Aylsham; as they seemed to have more of a focus on what their towns specifically require in order to regain the vitality of ages past - and already appear to have a plan as to how best use the government cash.

There were also interesting entries from Ripon and St. Ives, who have focused their regeneration plans around unique heritage sites, and embraced the potential of tourism to help boost town centre footfall.

The most bizarre entry comes from Exmouth; wherein a teenage girl is apparently beamed down from space, and then escorted around the town by someone looking suspiciously like her sister, before concluding that the townsfolk are spending entirely too much time larking about by the beach, and not enough on their 'quite nice' high street, before she's whisked back into the orbit. The tagline, 'bring them here, keep them here", is altogether more sinister than was surely intended.

Also, if you'd like to see perhaps the worst impression of Mary Portas ever performed - check out Tamworth's effort.

Some common themes mentioned in almost every entry are the failure of councils to come up with innovative town-centre-saving solutions over a number of years (or even decades); the cost of town centre parking or the lack thereof; proliferation of supermarkets & out-of-town developments causing town centres to falter, and the impact that on-line shopping has had on the high street. These, of course, are aspects that the government and Ms. Portas are already painfully aware of.

One wonders how the winners will eventually be chosen. Do the video entries carry as much weight as the application form? If so, does 'view count' get factored into the final reckoning? Are CACI ratings consulted in order to determine the most deserving of town centre investment?

We'll find out in a couple of weeks - but for now, I'll champion Warwick's entry one last time...local bias at it's best!

Cinemas - Cruelly Overlooked as a High Street Remedy?

By Graham Shone on April 24, 2012 12:04 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The Local Government Association published a survey earlier this month which tackles the issue of high street 'clustering', which I have blogged about before on here, and once again it is of little surprise to see such things heavily lamented by council members. What I find particularly interesting about this survey, however, is the type of premises that councillors feel will help most to regenerate struggling high streets.

The officers rate books and clothes stores, restaurants, and local butchers and bakers highest with over 90% of those surveyed claiming these types of outlets were the most important elements needed to help restore the future vitality of Britain's high streets. Surprisingly, however, only 68% seemed to think that leisure elements such as cinemas and bowling alleys were of importance to ensuring town centre recovery.

The results seem to largely ignore the fact that supermarkets have largely made the traditional high street model redundant via a combination of favourable parking provision and unbeatable prices over a sustained period of time, perhaps pointing to a degree of romanticism. This feeling doesn't appear to be shared by developers and shopping centre owners nationwide.

Legal & General's Castle Place Market in Trowbridge; Harbourside Developments' Telford Shopping Centre; Capital Shopping Centres' Potteries Centre in Stoke and Key Properties' Kingsmead Centre in Farnborough have all received permission since the start of 2012 for either a cinema-led extension, or a reconfiguration of existing space to accommodate a cinema. Not to mention the plans submitted in February by Hammerson to develop almost 90,000 sq ft of leisure and restaurant space at Centrale, in Croydon.

Whilst these are only a handful of examples, they represent the major retail developers' recognition of how beneficial leisure space can be in a town centre scheme. On the surface, cinemas and bowling alleys, to use the survey's examples, are footfall-drivers and dwell-time boosters; but, crucially, they also offer at least an imitation of the social aspect of town centre shopping that has perhaps been lost through the proliferation of supermarkets.

If town centres are indeed to recover to the level we want them to, they have to provide something that is unattainable in out-of-town schemes or even on-line. This, regrettably, puts an arrow in the idea that the traditional high-street model can be revived, but it gives license to look towards a model that can ensure future success by driving shoppers into the centre of towns to engage in activities besides shopping.

Developers seem to have cottoned on to this notion - and perhaps it's time councils did too.

NPPF: Victory for town centres, or staving off the inevitable?

By Graham Shone on March 28, 2012 9:13 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

It's telling that the responses from the British Retail Consortium and BCSC to yesterday's new planning guidelines were altogether more positive than those given less than a week ago following the budget.

The main section of the significantly-condensed planning document which would concern retailers and developers is that which deals with the future vitality of town centres, and how planning guidelines can assist the market in making vibrant, competitive, successful centres a reality; and not just a celebrity's dream.

It was pleasing to see the document make reference to the individuality of town centres, and recognise that local authorities need to govern what constitutes sustainable development in their area. The authorities can define the extent of their town centres, and develop their area plans around these parameters. This in turn will mean a greater power to refuse permission to schemes which are seen as being detrimental to the progress of urban recovery, and thereafter, development.

In strengthening the Town Centre First mechanism, the framework has certainly put faith in the long-term ability of struggling town centres to recover - but in terms of shopping and retail, the question remains whether the problems are too endemic for a planning reform to fix. Several planning hurdles may have been removed for town centre retail schemes from a development point of view - but can consumer behaviour change enough to make them 'viable' and 'sustainable'? And how many retailers will survive until the benefits of the guidelines are felt?

The public often give their backing to retail-led regeneration schemes in town centres, only to then either vote with their wallet and shop on-line, or to drive to the out-of-town retail park, where the stores are larger and the parking free. There also needs to be a little more help given to retailers in the battle to pay rent (an opportunity missed in the budget); as there is little point in making the delivery of a gleaming new project easier if there is nobody there to fill it.

The next couple of years will be of interest - as we observe just how quickly the reforms catch on, and how many schemes are turned down due to failing the requisite impact assessments. Only then might we see retailers, developers and, crucially, shoppers turn their eye towards the town centre rather than away from it. The NPPF may be seen as the first step towards town centre recovery - but make no mistake - there's a marathon still to run.

A million opinions...

NPPF: What does the planning policy mean for Wales?

Bookies vs Portas - who's your money on?

By Graham Shone on February 27, 2012 11:22 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

This month has seen a response from the betting industry to the assertion made by Mary Portas that gaming outlets were a 'blight on the high street', and that their proliferation is creating unsightly gambling 'clusters' on struggling retail hotspots.

The perception that December's High Street Review gave was that betting shops are wandering unbidden into troubled towns, sneaking into premises once occupied by banks, building societies and estate agents in order to fleece the community of its cash. Senior industry figures have now hit back, claiming that betting shops are taking space that would otherwise have been vacant, and that their contribution to both local and nationwide economies should dissipate any anti-gambling rancour.

The figures stack up for the gambling industry - employing an average of five workers per store, and paying an average of £10,000 annually in business rates as they contribute around £3 billion to the UK economy every year. With this in mind, it's surely no bad thing to put them in a separate use class, creating a level of authority at council level to decide whether or not there are valid enough economic factors to give approval to a gambling venue in their community.

Research from the Local Government Association suggests that the issue is not one of isolated resentment of betting shops, or indeed the idea of gambling, but rather an uneasiness within communities about how simple it appears to be for a new bookmaker to appear in their town centre. The survey also implies that the public perceive betting shops as being similar to sex stores, fast-food takeaways and tanning salons in that they are all 'blights' on the high street.

In my view, creating a new use class for gambling outlets could help to de-construct this negative perception, and shift public focus towards the economic benefits that a bookmakers can have on a local economy, outlined as they would be in any 'change of use' application. This may then result in more demand-led outlets nationwide, as communities look to the gambling industry to provide their high streets with a shot in the arm - when necessary.

I can understand why the Association for British Bookmakers is a little bent out of shape over the possibility of putting their stores in a separate use class; and sees it as a deliberate piece of restrictive policy against them. However, I think in time they might well find there is more to be gained from contributing to communities with the blessing of councils and the public than forcing an unwanted presence into retail centres through scattergun, unrestrained expansion.

Portas: 'Right Diagnosis; Wrong Prescription'.

By Graham Shone on February 2, 2012 1:19 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

....At least that's the view that has been offered today by Phil Wrigley of LXB Retail and Majestic Wines, who has insisted that if the government were to adhere to the recommendations of Mary Portas' review, the High Street would be condemned to continue to plunge further into a 'Death Spiral', taking already ailing town centres with it.

Wrigley's own recommendation for our beloved urban centres to avoid this grim fate is to encourage increased conversion of high street premises to housing, which echoes some in-depth research conducted by think tank 'The Policy Exchange' in March last year.

Both Wrigley and the Policy Exchange have championed the idea of increasing flexibility within the current planning structure to allow properties to under go a quicker and easier transition, if required, from Class A to Class C. The common criticism of the current planning system is that councils' obsession with 'maintaining the town centre', or 'supporting economic regeneration', means that they occasionally force buildings to stay within a certain use class, often refusing a change of use until the premises have been vacant for a number of years.

The reason for this is that councils consider planning applications within the confines of local development frameworks (LDF) set out roughly every decade to outline how they hope the area to develop. Change-of-use applications which appear out-of-line with the LDF are seldom given approval, no matter what their viability, with councils more inclined to agree to a short term solution which fits in with their development plan.

I don't particularly share Wrigley's overriding negativity about the recommendations Portas outlined in December last year; but his view, substantiated by the think tank, represents almost the exact opposite way that Portas could have gone with her suggestions. It is a view that was perhaps too radical to suggest to the current government, who have already relaxed change-of-use laws pertaining to office buildings, with so far less-than-resounding success.

Is Portas, as Wrigley puts it, "propping up a failing sector", or is she attempting to exacerbate a latent desire within the British public to return to thriving town centres, thereby resisting the temptation to consign traditional high streets to the history books? What is certain is that the government's implementation of any of Portas' recommendations will be put under intense scrutiny, as the queue of people waiting to say 'I told you so' gets longer by the day.

Burlington Arcade restoration begins

By Annabel Dixon on January 20, 2012 2:07 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Regular readers of our retail blog will recall an earlier entry on the brewing row between owners and tenants of the Burlington Arcade on Piccadilly, W1, over plans to breath new life into the building.

Meyer Bergman, the European real estate firm that bought the Grade II-listed arcade in October 2010, has now revealed the first pictures of proposed new restoration works following the receipt of Planning and Listed Building Consent.

Work has now started and the first phase, which will focus on restoring the upper elements of the arcade, is expected to be complete by the end of April. It involves the installation of up-lighting and the re-painting of the painted elements in the original ecru white colour used in 1819 when the arcade first opened.

Work is being undertaken out of trading hours to allow shopkeepers to remain open for business throughout the process.

Markus Meijer, chief executive of Meyer Bergman, Burlington Arcade's co-owner, said: "We expect these works to be complete in time for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations and I am particularly excited that, once complete, we will have a view not seen for over 100 years and possibly not since Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 1897."

Keighley Retail Loop to be Completed by Stainsby Grange.

By Graham Shone on December 9, 2011 2:12 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

My attention was drawn earlier this week to an application by Stainsby Grange to construct a

new retail scheme in Keighley. The development will be called 'Worth Valley Shopping Centre', and already has its own website, detailing which brands the company are hoping to entice to the scheme. The developers have indicated that this development is designed to complete Keighley's 'natural retail loop', illoustrated on the right.

This loop already contains two major retail schemes: The Cavendish Retail Park and The Airedale Centre, both mentioned in the retail statement accompanying the application as being infeasible sites for redevelopment as they contain a tenant mix committed to medium and long-term leases. A new mall, therefore, was seen as the key to moving Keighley's retail status forward, and rubber-stamping the town as the primary retail destination in the Airedale corridor, and after a six-year land acquisition process, Stainsby Grange have now gone

Tying in nicely with my previous blog, the developers have, admirably, taken pains to explicitly write in the Design and Access statement that social media has been embraced, with the creation of www.facebook.com/worthvalleyshoppingcentre. The site currently has 22 'likes' and 1 'talking about' - which isn't actually too bad for a shopping centre by comparison, but maybe a bit more promotion in the right areas is needed for the site to take off.

If, as indicated, construction is due to begin in early 2013 it would be a welcome fillip for the retail development pipeline, which is looking rather shaky after the nearby Trinity Leeds completes. Additionally, £300 million worth of local investment combined with the creation of 500 jobs is nothing to sneeze at - particularly in an area that has been measurably blighted by the economic downturn.

The real test, of course, comes after opening; when we will be able to gauge if indeed Worth Valley has contributed to or detracted from the retail market in Keighley. Careful measures need to be taken to ensure that there is no temptation to draw trade away from Airedale or Cavendish, even if a further downturn in the retail market necessitates a shift in target occupiers.

A brewing storm in Croydon

By Annabel Dixon on November 11, 2011 4:16 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Poor Croydon. The town centre is crying out for a cohesive, coherent retail-led regeneration strategy but, judging by this week's events, I suspect it will be some time before a happy conclusion is reached.

Westfield's jubilation on Thursday that it is to act as a development partner to the Whitgift Foundation, which owns the freehold and a 25% long leasehold stake in the town's Whitgift shopping centre, was short lived.

It transpired that Royal London and Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, which together own 75% of the long leasehold and the management of the mall, had no idea that Westfield and the Whitgift Foundation were striking a deal.

The new agreement has all the potential to frustrate IBRC in particular, since it has been advised by Jones Lang LaSalle throughout 2011 on a strategy both for its stake and the wider redevelopment of the Whitgift shopping centre.

The indications so far are that the brewing storm will accelerate Royal London and IBRC's ambitions to seek out their own development partner for the mall.

Now you can bet that Hammerson, the new owner of neighbouring shopping mall Centrale, and Minerva, which long held ambitions to develop out a neighbouring Croydon retail scheme, Park Place, will both be keeping a keen eye on proceedings. And firms including British Land, Land Securities, Capital Shopping Centres and Lend Lease have all flirted with the idea of investing in Croydon over the years.

So which investor - developer will catch Royal London and IBRC's eye? And what will be the reality of having potentially two parallel development agendas for one shopping centre?

For those familiar with the development of Croydon town centre, this will be just another twist in a long-running saga. But for those new to the scene: watch this space. You're in for a ride.

Déjà vu at the Burlington Arcade

By Annabel Dixon on October 28, 2011 12:07 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The brewing row between the owners and tenants of the Burlington Arcade on Piccadilly, W1, has a distinct sense of déjà vu about it.

More than 34,000 people backed a petition in January 2010 calling for action after 150 traders were ejected from Portobello Market, W11, in favour of an All Saints store.

They argued that the changes to Lipka's Arcade, undertaken by landlord Warren Todd, threatened the character of one of the capital's top tourist attractions and accused him of jeopardising the market in pursuit of high rents.

Fast forward more than a year and a half, and the same argument is now being thrashed out under the arches of the Grade II-listed arcade in Piccadilly.

Meyer Bergman and Thor Equities, the owners of the Burlington Arcade, are threatening to replace boutique retailers, some of whom have traded there for more than 50 years, with glitzy brands such as Jimmy Choo. They have also hired New York-based retail guru Peter Marino, famed for his black leather cap and sunglasses combo, to head up a reported £2.5m makeover of the arcade.

Daniel Bexfield, who has run a silver shop in the Burlington Arcade for 13 years, has branded the joint venture's plans for the arcade as "Dubai style" and Susanna Lovis, a specialist in Victorian and Edwardian jewellery, warns that it risks being turned into another Westfield mall.

As the mood at the arcade becomes increasingly sour and Bexfield's protest gathers momentum - film director Michael Winner recently waded in - it's hard to see an easy and peaceful solution to this familiar dispute.

RPI rise threatens fragile retail

By Annabel Dixon on October 18, 2011 12:48 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The retail property sector is set for another bruising as the Office for National Statistics' confirmed this morning that the retail prices index rose to 5.6% in September - the highest annual inflation rate for over 20 years.

The BRC estimates that the new RPI figure threatens to land the retail sector with a £350m business rates increase next April since the uniform business rate is set taking into account the RPI inflation rate at September 2011.

This of course comes at a time when retailers are already grappling with an increase in VAT, low bank lending levels and fragile consumer confidence.

BCSC has been quick to pounce, warning that high levels of business rates will impact retailers' expansion plans. It will in turn also affect the viability of retail development, which is dependent on securing retailers and acceptable levels of rental income.

BCSC, in its letter to local government minister Bob Neill today, writes: "As occupiers' business rates liability continues to increase, a greater share of occupancy costs will be absorbed by rates, eroding potential rental values and therefore the viability of proposed developments."

It is evidently time for the government to start paying closer attention to its independent review of the UK high street, led by sharp-tongued retail guru Mary Portas, which is identifying the level of business rates as a thorn in the retail property sector's side.

Bargoed's Big Idea Becomes a Reality

By Graham Shone on October 14, 2011 10:46 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

Construction work on the retail element of the Bargoed Town Centre Regeneration project is set to begin next month, with Simons Group having recently exchanged the development agreement with Caerphilly Council on the £24 million scheme.

There will no doubt be stories this weekend that will grab more attention in South Wales, but once any short-term economic boost delivered by a victorious World Cup campaign fizzles out; the region would still be festering in dire economic circumstances.

The development has already delivered a new £25 million by-pass known as Angel Way to the East of the town centre, and a modern transport hub in northern Bargoed. The retail plateau is undoubtedly the crux of the project, and will provide a new Morrison's superstore measuring 56,000 sq ft and 7 supplementary retail units ranging from 1,700 sq ft to 5,250 sq ft. Perhaps the figure that will matter most to locals, however, is the provision of an estimated 300 new jobs in an area that suffered enormously following the recession, and is still lagging behind most areas of the U.K. in its recovery.

This video was produced in January 2011, highlighting the areas of the town to benefit from the scheme. Below are artists' impressions of how the new retail plateau will look:

I believe the key to the success of the scheme so far is it's viability. EGi reported today on a retail development site in Newcastle which has stalled, then re-started, and then stalled again - before being bought outright this year....and then stalling. The partnership of Simons and the Council, by contrast, have carefully tailored the project to the needs of Bargoed. It is a clear example of rejecting over-ambition in favour of realism - hopefully this will provide a template from which other developers can take inspiration.

For more info on the scheme, visit the official site here.

Endorsements Aplenty for Stoke Proposals

By Graham Shone on September 28, 2011 10:10 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Stoke-on-Trent may not be the first place one would instinctively look for a positive retail story ahead of rent quarter day looming large at the end of this week, yet my attention has been drawn to two major developments in the Staffordshire Town's retail scene over the last fortnight.

First, Stoke resident and 15-time darts world champion Phil Taylor endorsed Realis Estates' re-branding and unveiling of their multi-million pound City Sentral scheme at BCSC this month; stating that he was particularly concerned about youth unemployment in Stoke, and that this kind of project would help to remedy that. There have been a few concerns from locals over the new name, and the fact that anchor tenant Marks and Spencer already has a presence in the town centre has raised a hint of antipathy, which Realis will have to dampen by attracting exciting mix of tenants at the 70 supplementary units. Perhaps most crucial to the plans will be the proposed 1,000 car parking spaces in addition to the re-vamp of the bus station, which ought to make access to the town centre a great deal easier. Taylor's resounding positivity may not be unilateral at the moment, but taking the long view - this scheme ought to benefit the town both economically, and aesthetically.

More recently, Capital Shopping Centres received an almost unanimously positive verdict from visitors to The Potteries centre, after consultation postcards were distributed to shoppers asking for their opinion on the developer's plan to add 58,000 square feet of leisure space to the scheme by 2014. The survey resulted in a 99% approval rating for the plans, which include six new restaurant units and a cinema. A formal application is expected later this year for the extension, to be known as 'The Avenue', with 100 construction jobs to be provided once the proposal is given the thumbs-up.

Both Realis and CSC will be hoping that their respective proposals for Stoke can provide a fillip to a city that has recently experienced a mite of negative press, and will undoubtedly be inspired by the positive impacts that Bury and Wakefield experienced after major retail developments. The former jumped 59 places in the CACI 2011 retail footprint following the opening of The Rock in July last year, and Trinity Walk has helped to bump Wakefield up 48 positions. Given the level of investment mooted for both schemes, developers and residents must surely be looking to at least emulate those achievements in the Potteries.

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