Reaching high

High Chelmer shopping centre in Chelmsford has undergone a massive transformation over the last 40 years, with much more to come. Claire Elliott reports

Published: 18 February, 2008

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Chelmsford has long been known as the shopping 'mecca' of mid-Essex. Currently serving a population that stretches as far out as Brentwood to the south and Braintree to the north, the town has two modern shopping centres at its heart: High Chelmer, which was built in the early 1970s, initially as an open-air scheme, and The Meadows, which opened in 1992 at the south end of the High Street.

The two centres work in harmony together for the good of the town as a whole and centre manager of High Chelmer Mick McDonagh, who has worked at the centre for 18 years, happily boasts a footfall of 220,000 a week passing through his scheme.

The centre has certainly moved with the times and undergone a number of refurbishments in order to maintain its success. In 1985 a new polycarbonate barrelled roof protected shoppers from the elements, while doors were added to completely enclose the malls in the early 1990s. The single-floor centre, which boasts 82 units, has also benefited from new flooring and more recently various units have been extended to cater for retailers looking for more space. A complete transformation of Central Square, which was finished in December 2007, brings us up to date. The new central area has created a huge events area, mainly used for community entertainment, as well as a new mall café for Starbucks, and a new unit which has been taken by The Fragrance Shop.

McDonagh says the aim of the latest works was to create improved sightlines, increase the light and make better use of the whole space. The lease was up on Butterflies Café, which stood in the middle of Central Square, and the time had come for a complete rethink of the area.

"We demolished Central Square and decided to open up the area so there was clear flow for pedestrian traffic and clear sightlines to the east and west, creating a modern shopping environment," says McDonagh. "At the same time we got Starbucks and The Fragrance Shop."

McDonagh and LaSalle Investment Management, which manages the centre on behalf of Coal Pension Properties, are now on the next stage of development to ensure the centre can compete with additional retail which will come to the town as part of the Chelmsford Development Framework - the area action plan for the town centre. Local developer Aquila is planning to add retail to its Bond Street scheme on the other side of the High Street opposite High Chelmer, while other retail-led development being proposed for the town includes the possibility of extending The Meadows. The new developments will be designed to stop leakage to nearby Lakeside and Bluewater.

"Next is the enhancement of the High Street entrance because it's looking tired on the outside," says McDonagh. "That has already goaded retailers to think about shop fits."

Steve Bateman, associate director at LaSalle, adds: "We want to roll the improvements we've made in Central Square out across the centre and bring it up to modern standards."

There is also mention of Centros extending High Chelmer by building a retail development on the site of the council multi-storey behind the scheme.

Bateman adds: "It would end up being a joint venture but at the moment it's just being looked at."

Further plans for the centre include some tenant reconfigurations to make better use of the unit space available. In addition, there are plans by the council to introduce a nightclub in the vacant Chancellors Hall above the now vacated post office, which is now located in WH Smith.

James Merrett, from letting agent Cushman & Wakefield, says: "We're recommending the client gets planning consent for A3 use within the old post office unit and then markets that space. I think we can add two restaurants, get external seating and create a new environment. The operators can fit out the area themselves and LaSalle are keen to work with them on that.

"I think it's then about making sure the operators fit in with the customer profile of the shops; casual daytime dining rather than out-and-out evening trade."

There are currently 11 vacant units in the centre, which is above the usual 10 per cent it has historically enjoyed, but McDonagh remains positive and sees them as opportunities to enhance the offer, including bringing in more eateries within the external units of the scheme.

Merrett also believes there's a lot of potential for mid-market fashion retail, such as Oasis, Republic and Jane Norman. He adds: "High Chelmer will always have a value offer because of where the market is. At the moment that value offer is spread across the scheme, and the fashion content is under 20 per cent. I think that can be quite easily doubled and to do that we'll need to move retailers around. It won't be straightforward. For some of our voids we're targeting existing retailers to move there."

In addition, each unit is being examined individually to see where they can be extended into the scheme's four service yard areas. "We're looking at the scheme unit by unit and at where we can extend out and create bigger space," says Merrett. "We need to make sure we're matching the requirements of the retailers. Where we identify a retailer that wants more space, we can look at more options to deliver that."

And Merrett isn't worried about competition from any new retail development. "The joy with High Chelmer is it can be delivered now," he says. "Planning is not required, the pedestrian flow is extremely strong and Chelmsford is very, very under-shopped. I think that within the scope of the city centre master plan, any future developments can all be fitted in, but High Chelmer is immediate and we need to focus on the job in hand. In the longer-term, the bigger scheme still has some way to go."

Chelmsford's main retail threat comes from nearby Lakeside and to some degree Bluewater, although McDonagh says Basildon and Southend have been affected more.

While there is leakage, McDonagh believes the local population is still loyal to High Chelmer, with many visitors frequenting the centre several times a week. External relationships are also good. McDonagh is the former president of the Chamber of Commerce and is chairman of the Chelmsford Business Forum, which means he is always aware of what's going on and what's going to happen in the town, putting him comfortably ahead of the game.

"If you're running a huge amount of real estate in the centre of town you have to be seen to be involved in the bigger picture," he says.

He also works hand in hand with The Meadows and is aware that they share the same customers. "We also work with the small independents and in the end it's all for the greater good," he adds.

Charity partnerships are also important to McDonagh and his team. They work with various local charities, including the nearby Farley Hospice and the Helen Rollinson cancer charity.

"High Chelmer is a product of the community we reside in and the people we serve," he says. "We are born as a consequence of that. We serve them well, as we are always in the forefront of community events.

"Last year we were able to raise several thousand pounds for Farley Hospice and Helen Rollinson, which is a really pleasing result."

For Helen Rollinson the team sold relics from the demolished Central Square, including the stained glass windows of Butterflies Café. And before Christmas they held a market in the east and west malls on successive weekends to raise money for the charity, which was hugely popular.

On the penultimate weekend before Christmas, Farley Hospice held a craft fair, which also created interest and a degree of difference for the shoppers.

"We've been friends of Farley Hospice for a long time, because it's a local charity and is very organised," says McDonagh. "We donated our olive trees and benches from Central Square to them for use in their garden areas. They wanted a nativity scene for Christmas and so I went to James Glancy and they had just done a new nativity scene for the Queensgate Centre in Peterborough, also owned by LaSalle. So I rang them up and asked for their old one. The figures weighed 50kg each so I got my local building contractor in and they transported it all for nothing."

Central Square is now a prime area for community events and has been used by Blue Inc to promote its sales with a Bucking Bronco, which also provided a source of entertainment for the shoppers. On Valentine's Day, Thehairshop will be using the space to do makeovers with GHDs to promote their services in the salon, book appointments and raise money for charity.

"In the summer we will be looking at climbing wals and other opportunities," says McDonagh. "We use our space for community events rather than for commercial opportunities. On Exchange Way we have five RMUs but we will be moving the Lottery kiosk from Exchange Way to a newly designed information desk in Central Square in order to free up space in Exchange Way."

Marketing is extremely important to the centre, with activities including special events, the centre magazine, which is posted to 50,000 people within the catchment, local advertising, the centre's website, which receives on average 28,000 hits a week, as well as competitions and charity auctions.

Working alongside Flying Saucer Marketing, the team makes very efficient use of its small marketing budget.

"We use the tenants to drive the loyalty," says McDonagh, "and for our competitions as well. This is truly marketing on a shoestring and we tend to use the Stephen Logue school of precision promotional planning rather than the scatter-gun approach. This is also why we're happy to fling our doors wide open to charity and community events, particularly the arts." A good example of this is a contemporary art exhibition currently running in one of the empty units.

"All these activities generate valuable column inches and air time both locally and regionally. We do a lot with our imagination and very little money."

McDonagh also focuses strongly on customer service. The centre has a consolidated customer service organisation, with VSG heading up the security and cleaning teams. "We strove to create more synergy with both teams," explains McDonagh. "They are the most important assets we have in creating a clean and safe shopping centre.

"It was a cost saver to start with but it's also about unifying the rotas and spreading the teams across the whole network. Both the cleaning and security teams are involved in recycling waste.

"So we now have a multi-flexible team that can cover for each other's days and nights. It's effective and efficient."

As a result the centre has won a Customer Service Award for the South East region and a national BSIA Security Team of the Year award for stopping a jumper on the car park roof. In addition, McDonagh is proud of the low service charges, which in part are helped by the fact the centre is naturally ventilated. In addition, the cost of promotional marketing is also much less per square foot when compared against type.

Taking a step back, McDonagh truly enjoys his job. "It's not a job," he says, "it's a vocation, and many people don't appreciate the sheer diversity involved in the role.

"The perfect centre manager is extrovert in marketing, personable with tenant and public relations, able to motivate staff, administratively efficient, tenacious in pursuit of excellence, diligent in securing high standards from contractors and appreciative of the desire of retailers to maximise turnover. While I don't profess to be such a person, I endeavour to aspire to it."