After a 13-year struggle, the redevelopment of London's Battersea Power Station site - including 400,000 sq ft of retail - has finally won detailed planning permission from the London Borough of Wandsworth. The decision comes as developers show renewed interest in the Battersea area with Delancey and Land Securities working up plans for a new 250,000 sq ft retail development at nearby Clapham Junction station.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has approved the Compulsory Purchase Order for USS's Trinity Quarter development in Leeds.

The latest reader poll on http://www.shopping-centre.co.uk was: "Should landlords agree to the BRC's demands for rent to be paid monthly rather than quarterly?"

The John Lewis partnership is planning to step up its acquisition programme to almost double its department store portfolio. It currently trades from 26 UK stores, with 11 in the development pipeline. Now managing director Charlie Mayfield has set his sights on another 10 store openings.

An Irish investor, advised by BTWShiells, has bought the Forge shopping centre in Glasgow for just under £138m representing an initial yield of 4.85 per cent and an equivalent yield of 6 per cent.

Carphone Warehouse co-founder and deputy chairman David Ross has taken a 50 per cent stake in the recently completed Drake Circus development in Plymouth through his private investment vehicle Kandahar.

Belfast-based William Ewart Properties is to redevelop the Rhiw Centre in Bridgend, south Wales, and has appointed urban regeneration specialist Centros Miller as development manager for the scheme.

WD (Huddersfield) has unveiled plans to extend its 300,000 sq ft Kingsgate Centre in Huddersfield by 50 per cent in order to accommodate more retail plus an 80-bedroom hotel.

An independently accredited industry standard designed to improve the shopping centre industry's environmental performance has been launched by The Mall at this year's BCSC conference in Manchester.

Lend Lease's latest contribution to the UK shopping centre scene is now nearing completion in the centre of Warrington, Cheshire.

On August 9, on the way home from an eight-day motorcycling holiday to Norway and back, I suffered a rear tyre blowout on the M20, receiving (so I'm told) near fatal injuries to both my partner and myself. My partner was airlifted to the Royal London Trauma Unit and we both were in hospital for several weeks.

It is with great regret and sympathy that KBC Asset Management reports the untimely death of Colin Antrobus, centre manager at the Clarendon Centre in Oxford.

It appears that everything in the garden is rosy. While not strictly a shopping centre, Dobbies Garden World at Atherstone has to be seen to be believed. The site features a Julian Graves concession, Art Depot, an Outdoor Shop for clothing and a Field to Kitchen Food Hall, as well as the usual garden centre range, offering at least six complementary retail uses.

The BCSC conference and showcase in Manchester was a roaring success. With delegate and exhibitor numbers hitting 3,000 the event has truly come of age now.

Passion for Perfume was launched just over two years ago with backing from the Manchester-based property developer Brendan Flood of Modus fame, and it has already become a major force in the UK fragrance market with a 33-strong store portfolio. The retailer is just about to open its 34th store at Lend Lease's Overgate centre in Dundee.

At the BCSC Conference, Alastair Campbell commended our industry for the lead it has taken in regenerating our great cities.

You could be forgiven if you came away from BCSC's 20th annual conference in Manchester earlier this month with a warmish feeling of political harmony. We had all been assured that the retail property industry had nothing to fear from this government, nor from a future Tory government.

According to research conducted by the International Council of Shopping Centres, the outlet development boom in the UK has all but petered out, with just three developments in the pipeline in Kendal, Gloucester and Banbridge, Co. Down. Accordingly, the industry is shifting its focus to asset managing existing properties in the UK, and looking overseas for less mature markets in which to develop.

Communication is key when it comes to security. Whether it be communication between the guards themselves, or between the control room and retailers, customers or external bodies such as the police or town centre businesses, getting it right is paramount to ensuring everyone's safety.

Safeguarding people and premises should be top of the agenda for shopping centres of all sizes, but sadly the procurement of private security services is too frequently treated as an incidental commodity purchase, based on price rather than quality.

Doncaster may not have always got a good press, but with the Yorkshire town currently undergoing a major regeneration, not only are people returning to the town but it is striving for city status as well.

As soon as the announcement was made last July that London will host the 2012 Olympic Games, planning for building work got underway. And with recent terror attacks in the forefront of everyone's minds, safety moved firmly and very publicly centre stage in terms of infrastructure planning.

? Kingswood Shopping Centre, Bristol

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Marks & Spencer continues to be the UK's leading retailer of clothing and footwear by both value and volume, but its performance had been declining for almost a decade before the arrival of Stuart Rose and a new management team in 2004.

According to the BRC/KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for October 2006, UK sales were up 2.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis, compared with a weak October 2005, when sales declined 0.2 per cent in the wake of the July bombings in London.

The October Retail FootFall Index (RFI) shows another frightening month for retailers as footfall levels dropped by 5.2 per cent compared to the same month last year, while the month-on-month change showed an increase of 3.6 per cent.

Shopping centre transactions reached the highest level so far this year in the third quarter, with investment turnover at £2.1bn, according to Savills' latest retail research.

CB RICHARD ELLIS has unveiled a new structure for its retail division. MALCOLM DALGLEISH has been appointed chairman of the retail divisions for both EMEA and the UK. The UK division will be overseen by a new operations board, chaired by CIARAN BIRD. The other members of the board will be DAVID BRIGDEN, MARK DISNEY, ED HUMBERT, STEVE MCMULLEN, MIKE PRENTICE, NIKKI SKELTON, DAVID WILLIAMS and SIMON WILSON. DAVID KENNINGHAM and DAVID WILLIAMS will take responsibility for the development of key retail clients. And SIMON PETTINATI will rejoin the UK retail division as director of retail business operations.

The Gyle shopping centre has gone cow mad after joining up with four primary schools in Edinburgh to support the capital's highly successful Cowparade.

The Trafford Centre brought smiles to the patients of Trafford General Hospital's children's ward when it organised a surprise visit from kids' favourite, SpongeBob SquarePants.

To mark Chapelfield's first birthday, the Norwich centre has given away 83 prizes, donated by tenants, in a special prize draw.

An Irish investor advised by BTWShiells has bought the Forge Shopping Centre in Glasgow for just under £138m representing an initial yield of 4.85 per cent and an equivalent yield of 6 per cent.

Welcome to the biggest-ever edition of Shopping Centre Ireland, published to coincide with the BCSC conference and showcase, which takes place at Manchester's GMEX from November 6 to 8.

North Dublin is becoming a hotbed of development activity following Fingal County Council's decision to grant permission for the 30,000 sq m Ikea store in north Ballymun. If there are no objections to An Bord Pleanala, Ikea says the new store could be open for trading by next summer.

Shoe retailer Ravel is to open its first-ever Irish factory outlet store at the Outlet at Bridgewater Park.

Ambitious E60m plans by Treasury Holdings to develop a state-of-the-art shopping centre and residential complex in the centre of Sligo have been turned down by Sligo Borough Council.

The new Bridgewater Centre in Arklow, Co Wicklow, now under construction at a cost of E130m, is due to open in autumn 2007.

Major developments are under way for The Square shopping centre in Tallaght, Dublin, which was opened in 1990, as one of the first of the new generation shopping centres in the Republic. Currently, it has 53,000 sq m of retailing space and gets more than 19m shoppers a year.

Both H & M and Zara have signed up for the new landmark fashion shopping complex being developed by Joe O'Reilly in South King Street, off the top of Grafton Street, Dublin.

Two new rival commercial developments are set to attract big retail names and transform the city of Kilkenny.

Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, is to get a new development that will include nine retail warehousing units in two blocks. The project is being planned by Stephen Murphy and David Cullen.

The Stillorgan shopping centre in south Dublin, owned by Treasury Holdings, finally received the go-ahead from An Bord Pleanala for a major E40m revamp. Three previous plans to redevelop the centre were rejected during the past 10 years, because of residents' objections.

A controversial new local area plan has been agreed by local councillors for the Greystones area of north Co Wicklow, close to Bray.

The new ?100m Leopardstown shopping centre situated off Ballyogan Road, in Leopardstown, one of the most affluent areas of south Dublin, is set to open on November 16.

World of Wonder and The Bag Shop have joined the mixed-use Deerpark shopping park in Killarney. World of Wonder has taken a unit of 785 sq m and the Bag Shop has secured a unit of 101 sq m. They will be trading alongside Homebase, Argos, New Look, Arcadia, Carphone Warehouse and Flesk Meats.

Is Dublin city centre, both north and south of the Liffey, going to have too much retail, with all the new developments either about to open or being planned? Incredible as it may seem, the pundits believe that if anything, Dublin city centre isn't getting enough retail.

Athlone lies in the very centre of Ireland on the banks of the River Shannon. It is the traditional capital of the Irish Midlands, but now a massive town centre development is under way that will enable the town to serve a far wider region, reaching the outskirts of Dublin to the east and Galway to the west.

Paddy Kelly, the 62-year-old snow-haired Dublin-based developer, who currently has at least 50 separate projects on the go in Ireland and internationally, has an enviable reputation. It's said that while everyone in property in Ireland has enemies, no one can or will say a bad word against him.

Junction One outlet centre is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland and, with gross profits growing at 20 per cent year-on-year, its owners are taking the opportunity to reassess its progress.

In any industry, enthusiasm for the project, profession and the dream is crucial. Even more so is determination, patience and endurance. And these are certainly qualities developer Suneil Sharma has plenty of. Although, this comes as no surprise since he and his business partner Sam Morrison are in the process of investing a staggering ?250m into the heart of Limerick.

Superquinn, once renowned as one of the big innovative names in Irish retailing, is awakening from a long, slow decline, during which its new store opening programme came to a standstill. So far this decade, it has lost about a quarter of its regular customers, but under new ownership, all that is set to change, if executive chairman Simon Burke (47), gets his way.

The West End development at Blanchardstown, Dublin, has repositioned itself as Ireland's first shopping park, a sophisticated upgrade on the traditional-style retail park. Owned by the Dublin-based Cosgrave Property Group, West End opened in 1999.

The recent deal that saw the ownership of The Pavilions shopping centre in Swords, Co Dublin, change hands for E575m, was the biggest ever single property deal in Ireland. It has also set the pace for retail property investors wanting to put their money into shopping centre developments.

The Ballymac factory outlet planned for Dundalk is not going ahead and much of the blame for the project's demise lies with the Republic's planning laws, according to a well-placed source.

News that Treasury Holdings is bidding to take over the Battersea Power Station project in London has focused attention on the growing Irish involvement in UK property recently.

According to the Irish Retail Market View publication from CB Richard Ellis, the retail sector in Ireland continues to perform strongly, driven in the main by unique demographics, an ever-growing population and strong spending power, and fuelled, in recent months, by the maturing of SSIA accounts.

Shopping Centre Ireland Developer of the Year, sponsored by CB Richard Ellis

Ards shopping centre has plenty to celebrate with a 12 per cent increase in customer numbers in the past year and the arrival of three new exciting stores.

Borders opened its first book, music and movie superstore in the Republic at West End in Blanchardstown on Friday 27 October.

Real-life fashion goddess and renowned as one of Ireland's best-dressed celebs, Grainne Seoige, launched the Fashion Goddess event at Liffey Valley.

The Marshes Centre in Dundalk is barely open a year but has won a coveted Tidy Towns award for its 'imaginative and amusing' visual impact and its retail harmony.