More shopping centre development in 2013 – Cushman & Wakefield
Next year is forecast to bring an upturn in UK shopping centre development, says Cushman & Wakefield, with nearly 175,000 sq m of new shopping centre space in the pipeline for 2013.
The development pipeline has ground to a halt this year amid the uncertain economic climate, with the projected total for 2012 of new UK shopping centre space brought to the market at just 33,000 sq m compared with the previous year’s 275,495 sq m. This will be the lowest annual figure on record since the early 1960s, C&W says in new research.
Only one new shopping centre has been delivered this year – the 15,600 sq m Swan Centre in Yardley, which opened in February. The rest of the new space is extensions to existing centres. Extensions also account for the whole of the pipeline for the second half of 2012, including the MetrOasis catering development at the Metro Centre in Gateshead.
In 2013, the 75,900 sq m Trinity Leeds scheme is due to open, as well as New Square in West Bromwich (43,900 sq m), the Whiteley shopping centre in Fareham (28,000 sq m), and the refurbished Lewis’s building in Liverpool (15,900 sq m), which forms part of the Central Village development.
Toby Sykes, partner in retail services at C&W, says the lack of new supply and the strong demand from leading retailers “is a genuine opportunity for landlords”. He says it is apparent from C&W’s experience in leasing Trinity Leeds and Whiteley that there is currently robust demand for the right development product.
