viewpoint
Published: 14 December, 2006
Land Securities' Cardinal Place was a surprise winner in the BCSC Gold awards last week, but no less worthy for all that.
It's certainly not a shopping centre in the conventional sense of the word: the offices that sit over the shops and the apartment block to the rear of the site dwarf the 101,000-sq ft retail element of the scheme. But it's a truly mixed-use scheme and it's made a dramatic contribution to the environment in what was a particularly drab part of central London.
And this is where the retail comes into its own. The shops and restaurants at Cardinal Place bring life to what would otherwise be a windswept precinct, and Land Securities has attracted major brands like Marks & Spencer, Topshop and Zara into a location they would once not have considered.
The company is already applying the lessons of Cardinal Place to other schemes like One New Change, which will be the first shopping centre in the City of London, and could become a model for injecting retail into locations that until now have been dominated by monolithic office buildings.
The awards dinner itself was bigger than ever, with 1,600 people crammed into the Great Room at the Grosvenor House. Naturally, those condemned to watch the proceedings on TV screens from their tables at the back of the balcony didn't seem as engaged in the presentation as those on the top tables, so the organisers did well to whip through 23 awards in about 20 minutes, before letting the guests get back to their networking and carousing.
And finally, congratulations to Jeremy Collins, development director at the John Lewis Partnership, on his appointment as BCSC vice-president. It's been too long since the organisation had a retailer at the helm.
This is our last issue of the year, so thanks to all of you for supporting Shopping Centre during 2006. Have a happy and peaceful Christmas and here's to a prosperous 2007.
Graham Parker, Editor
