Portas Review of the high street wins support from across the industry

Shopping Centre is unveiling a new series of articles on how to comply with the new Code of Practice on Service Charges

Mixed-use schemes should not always be the default answer to town centre regeneration, according to industry experts at a debate organised by BCSC and the Investment Property Forum (IPF).

Lend Lease celebrated the official opening of Glow, Bluewater, the £60m events and exhibition venue, yesterday with the launch of Clarion’s Spirit of Christmas gift fair.

Hot on the trail of the opening of McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Athens earlier this year, McArthurGlen Group is under way with the development of a further 120,000 sq m of new retail space.

Land Securities has announced that revenue profit is up 17.2 per cent to £195.6m, in its half-yearly results for the six months to 30 September 2011.

Manchester developers Capital Properties and Centric Property Group have joined forces to create Capital & Centric Plc launching today, November 2.

Lend Lease today announced that The Events Venue at Bluewater is to be re-named Glow, Bluewater.  The news follows the announcement that the £60m development is to open with its first show on November 30 this year.

Union Square, Aberdeen’s largest shopping centre has welcomed over 25m shoppers since opening in 2009.

The retail-led regeneration of town centres could be boosted by the creation of exemption zones for business rates, according to retail property organisation BCSC. 

Over 30,000 people turned out for the opening of Parkway shopping centre, the retail element of Standard Life Investments’ 475,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme in Newbury, which was marked by a fanfare procession complete with a host of Tudor street performers.

Leading lights of the retail property industry told Mary Portas that local and central Government must take decisive action to save Britain’s town centres.

An upturn in shopping centre development in Europe is on the horizon, according to a report from Cushman & Wakefield.

The slowdown in UK shopping centre development is expected to worsen according to a report from Cushman & Wakefield. Just 46,500 sq m of new shopping centre space was added to the market in the first half of 2011, with the opening of Trinity Walk in Wakefield in May.

Local authorities and developers should not fear localism, but honesty and trust are the key to success, according to industry experts speaking at the annual BCSC Conference & Exhibition n Manchester.

Jones Lang LaSalle has launched Retail Spotlight, their first biannual overview on the performance of the UK retail and leisure sectors, at the BCSC conference in Manchester.

The Westfield Group has launched its most ambitious project to date in East London.

Latest research by The Local Data Company (LDC) shows that the national vacancy rate is 14 per cent, with a spread of performance across the country ranging from 3- to 36 per cent. The number of void units has increased in 90 per cent of town centres.

Royal College of Art Alumni Rachael Barrett, Carolyn Massey and Matthew Miller unveil their limited edition designs for the McArthurGlen’s Spirit of Fashion Collection.

Highcross in Leicester is celebrating its third birthday with a series of events.

The next two years will see the lowest level of shopping centre completions in 50 years, according to Colliers’ Midsummer Retail Report.

The architecture of the UK’s retail destinations has undergone a fundamental change the last 20 years according to those who have been at the design coalface, writes Sean Kelly.

Edinburgh waterfront’s Ocean Terminal opened in October 2001.

Lend Lease’s 650,000 sq ft Touchwood retail and leisure scheme opened in Solihull on September 5 2001 – and according to Shopping Centre (complete with headline ‘Touchwood touches down’) it received a warm welcome from visitors and retailer. 

Hailed as Europe’s largest and most innovative retail and leisure destination, Lend Lease’s 1.6m sq ft Bluewater opened on March 16 1999.

British Land launched its first Community Charter at a breakfast briefing with guest speaker Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Through the Charter, British Land has made ten commitments to the communities in which its major UK properties and developments are located. 

BCSC is calling on government to balance local authorities’ financial needs with strong incentives to promote private-sector led growth as part of its Local Government Resource Review.

CACI has released its annual ranking of the UK’s top retail destinations, which underlines the continuing success of London’s West End, Westfield London and other urban centres.

BCSC has welcomed calls for greater clarity and consistency from the coalition about which tier of government will be held accountable for decision-making in an era of Localism.

The development of world-class shopping malls has been a major plank of Las Vegas’ plan to widen its appeal from the old ‘Sin City’ clientele. But now that the city is the grip of a major downturn how is the strategy working?

The Groups’ sixth European opening in the last three years, the €100m investment in Designer Outlet Athens is proof of the growth and resilience of the outlet market.

Wakefield’s Trinity Walk shopping centre opened in early May 2011, and it attracted close to 200,000 visitors during its first weekend of trading. The first centre to open since the economic downturn took hold is already 90 per cent let

Land Securities Group has announced its annual results for the year ended 31 March 2011.

Capital & Regional has announced its Interim Management Statement for the period 31 December 2010 to 17 May 2011.

Capital Shopping Centres has released its interim management statement for the period 1 January to 17 May 2011.  

Technology has moved on a long way in the two decades since Shopping Centre was launched, and it has changed the face of shopping, finds Sean Kelly

Thirty years ago, Queen Elizabeth II opened what was then a new concept in town centre development; The Mall Wood Green was one of the first mixed use developments combining retail, commercial, car parking and residential into a town centre site. 

Bluewater has regained the top position in the UK shopping centre hierarchy according to Trevor Wood Associate’s Going Shopping 2011 - The Definitive Guide to Shopping Centres.

The Light celebrates ten years of being a part of Leeds’ shopping and leisure scene.

Retail property has become more international thanks partly to the annual Mapic show in Cannes

The Buttermarket opened on October 1 1992 and featured in the following month’s issue of Shopping Centre with the headline: Ipswitched on!

Phase III of the Harlequin opened on June 16 1992 adding 60 units to the scheme and facilitating major refits for the three main anchors.

Land Securities has given approval for a £70m retail and residential scheme in Glasgow city centre.

The BCSC has called for Government action as shopping centre development pipeline hits 18-year low.

The Rock in Bury, near Manchester, was one of the few retail schemes to open in 2010. Six months on it’s performing well and centre management are looking to the future.

Now in its seventh decade, the International Council of Shopping Centers has turned to speed dating.

Over the past 20 years the trend has been for shopping centres to get bigger and bigger.
Sean Kelly investigates the rise of the mega-mall.

The Galleries in Bristol has just changed hands again, as it tries to find a new niche in the shadow of the nearby Cabot Circus.

A £20m refurbishment by Capital Shopping Centres has helped the Bromley centre stand the test of time. And now it’s poised to thrive over the next 20 years

After a long gestation period The Shires finally began to fulfil its potential when it doubled in size and was rebranded as Highcross Leicester

The Mall Luton has officially opened its £20m St George's Square development. The extension provides over 75,000 sq ft of new shopping space - let to TK Maxx and Argos - and 17,000 sq ft of catering units facing on to St George's Square, 86 per cent of which is now under offer or in solicitors' hands.

Delegates at this year’s Mapic conference and exhibition in Cannes, France, are thinking positively about the future of the retail property market for the first time since the recession.

Vacancy rates and supply – particularly shopping centre development - will be the most important drivers of retail property markets and performance in 2011, according to a new report by Cushman & Wakefield.

McArthurGlen is on track to open its 20th European designer outlet village in Athens next year, following on from the opening earlier this year of La Reggia Designer Outlet near Naples.

Invista has sold the freehold of its retail development at 1-5 Spurriergate and 1-3 High Ousegate, York, to BP Pension Fund for over £30m, reflecting a net initial yield of below 5 per cent.

LXB Retail, the out-of-town investor floated on the Stock Exchange in October 2009, has made its first two acquisitions, buying 70,000 sq ft of retail space in Greenwich, south London for £18.25m.

Commercial real estate consultant Colliers CRE will post a full year operating loss despite a strong final quarter.

Despite the savage recession, the overall shopping centre development pipeline is only 6.3 per cent lower than at this time last year, according to new research from Colliers CRE.

In King Sturge’s annual Property Predictions, the consultancy’s head of retail, Charles Miller, forecast that vacancy rates would recover from their nadir of around 20 per cent to around 10-12 per cent by the end of 2010.

Jonathan Doughty and Mark Rumfitt are chairing this year's BCSC Shopping Centre Managers' conference.

Chris Igwe, head of retail at CBRE France, gave the final keynote address at Mapic in Cannes.

Land Securities' 220,000-sq ft retail development at One New Change, opposite St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London, is now 68 per cent let or in solicitors' hands. Recent retail lettings include All Saints, Reiss, Hobbs and a new Jamie Oliver restaurant concept.

The stand-off between Tesco and Liverpool City Council, St Modwen Developments and Sainsbury's over a £150m development in Liverpool's Great Homer Street area continues as the council and its partners announced they will challenge Tesco's application for a judicial review into their plans.

Tesco BL Properties, a 50/50 joint venture between British Land and Tesco, has completed the refinance of its retail portfolio with a new £315m five-year term loan. The funds were used to repay TBL's existing bank loan on its scheduled maturity date.

Standard Life Investments, jointly advised by Edgerley Simpson Howe and King Sturge, has let the former leisure unit on Hollywood Park, Barrow-in-Furness to Dunelm Soft Furnishings.

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has refused planning permission for Centros’ Canal Corridor North development in Lancaster.

Liverpool City Council's Executive Board is meeting on Friday, January 15 to discuss a proposed 600,000-sq ft shopping centre, part of a development framework for the city's Edge Lane Central area.

Despite the savage recession, the overall shopping centre development pipeline is only 6.3% lower than at this time last year, according to new research from Colliers CRE. The agent calculates there is now 43.7m sq ft of shopping centre floorspace either under construction, with permission or in the planning stages in the UK.

Procurement work on a £275m shopping centre in Stoke-on-Trent is due to begin after a development agreement was signed at the end of last year.

Hammerson has taken over The Rock shopping centre development in Bury, Lancashire after its previous developer Thornfield Ventures Limited (TVL) went into administration earlier this week.

One of the most high profile casualties of the recession in the retail property sector, the stalled development of the 500,000-sq ft Trinity Walk shopping centre in Wakefield, got back on track this week after more than six months during which the city centre site has stood half built.

A late rush of deals in the final quarter of 2009 mean that turnover in the shopping centre investment market finished the year 42 per cent up on 2008. According to Cushman & Wakefield £2.065bn of UK shopping centres changed hands during the year.

The UK’s first Legoland Discovery Centre is set to open in Manchester on 22 March. The unique indoor attraction will open in The Trafford Centre’s Barton Square, which currently houses several homeware retailers including Next Home and Habitat.

Retail vacancies are set to fall during 2010, according to King Sturge. But an anticipated surge in development activity from 2012 could lead to a new oversupply of retail space.

Segro – formerly Slough Estates – has completed its withdrawal from the retail property sector with the sale of its interests in two sites in London and York to British Land for £87m.

Aviva Investors has paid £24.4m for the 48,100-sq ft Wren retail park in Torquay.

Land Securities has bought a key development site in Glasgow, opposite its Buchanan Galleries shopping centre.

Great Portland Estates has continued to assemble potential retail development sites on London’s Regent Street with two new deals worth a combined £35m.

British Land and USS have been given the green light for the £100m redevelopment of the Whiteley Village shopping centre near Fareham in Hampshire. Under the plans the existing Tesco superstore will be replaced with a Tesco Extra hypermarket and the existing outlet retail will be demolished, even though it is less than a decade old, and replaced by a convenience-led shopping mall.

Capital Shopping Centres and Land Securities have unveiled a further tranche of retailers who will be taking space at Cardiff’s St David’s 2. The new city centre retail destination is on target for opening in Autumn 2009.

The UK is officially out of recession, with the final three months of 2009 showing positive growth after six straight quarters of decline.