Shopping centre development the lowest since the 1960s – Cushman & Wakefield
New research by Cushman & Wakefield into the UK market for shopping centre retail property shows that development has slowed to a crawl, with the total pipeline for this year expected to be just 31,500 sq m. This is the lowest annual total since the early 1960s.
The pipeline consists of just one new scheme, the 15,600 sq m Swan Shopping Centre in Yardley, which opened in February. The remainder is made up of nine extensions including the MetrOasis food court at the MetroCentre in Gateshead.
Last year, the arrival of the 176,500 sq m Westfield Stratford City provided a massive boost to the amount of new shopping centre space added to the market, taking the increase in provision to 276,000 sq m overall. The Parkway in Newbury (27,400 sq m) and Trinity Walk in Wakefield (46,500 sq m) also opened last year. But C&W puts this into context by point out that this was still sharply below the trend of previous years – between 2001 and 2010 an average of nine new shopping centres opened every year.
Looking further ahead, C&W says the 2013 pipeline includes about 170,000 sq m of new space, including new retail premises available in West Bromwich at New Square (43,900 sq m), at Trinity Leeds (75,900 sq m), and at the Whiteley Shopping Centre (27,900 sq m) in Fareham.
Total shopping centre space in the UK at the start of this year was 16.4m sq m across 700 schemes, the report says. Gross Lettable Area (GLA) per 1,000 inhabitants was 261.6 sq m, up from 259.0 sq m a year earlier, and above the EU-27 average of 246.6 sq m, it notes.
Toby Sykes, retail partner at Cushman & Wakefield, said, “Development is expected to continue at a restrained pace for the foreseeable future. While selected retailers are expanding, on the whole occupiers remain cautious against a backdrop of sluggish retail sales and low consumer confidence. We continue to advise many landlords on refurbishments and extensions on existing schemes to improve tenant mix, and on revitalizing catering facilities to increase shopping hours.”
