Reshaping not remaking — Putting physical retail back at the heart of communities

Helena Davies, Partner and Head of Retail, considers whether ‘placemaking’ remains the right term to describe town centre regeneration and how retail can play its part in helping town centres to re-connect with their local communities.

We recently hosted our two Future of Retail & Placemaking conferences, held in partnership with Portland Design in Manchester and London.

From public-private partnerships and business rates to less well-trodden ground like developing urban farms on the high street, it was an opportunity to consider what the future holds for physical retail at a time when Britain’s bricks and mortar retailers are closing 12 stores more than they are opening each week. Despite consumer confidence being in flux, there was a sense of optimism at both events that the sector can have a positive ‘Golden Quarter’ in 2024 following positive trading over the summer and early autumn. 

Focusing in on the role of real estate in retail, perhaps the most pertinent comment of the series was from Pete Swift, co-founder of Planit-IE (and one of our Northern Stars), who threw cold water on the term ‘placemaking’ itself, suggesting that it be replaced with language that recognises the evolution of place — such as “place growing” or “place curating”. As many of our guests and contributors reflected, places are a representation of their users and their local communities, and those with influence over future places should use it to improve real-life experiences. Ultimately, people will spend more time (and money) if they feel a connection to where they shop. 

Of course, high streets and towns have already evolved in many ways to mirror the changes we witness within society — with many large destinations thriving and others struggling due to economic pressures. Consumer trends mean that the high street is undeniably going through a period of ‘retail Darwinism’ but it’s important that we approach the future with localism in mind — reshaping places to bring them back into community use, rather than seeking to ‘re-make’ them and in doing so losing the essence of what made them great in the first place.

We live in a time where the unique cultures of local communities are fragile and shifting. If we fail to recognise this, we do the British high street a great disservice. 

As Portland’s Ibrahim Ibrahim points out, fundamentally we’re seeing ‘big retail’ moving to a model where physical stores are less about transacting and more about attracting and retaining customers. Many of these brands are bringing ‘localism’ into their offer, including by providing spaces for independent businesses. 

If we’re to maintain local ‘pride in place’ though — particularly in town centres — traditional transactional retail will need to be supported by a mix of uses, ranging from leisure, work and culture to education, entertainment and healthcare. Our job in the real estate sector will be to help bring together occupiers, landlords, investors and local authorities to support the vision (and facilitate the compromises) that help these businesses to thrive, supported by experiences and services that make exciting spaces and for town centres to become a gravitational force for communities once more.

Thank you to our speakers and panellists

A huge thank you to Ibrahim Ibrahim for setting the scene with his thought-provoking keynote speech and Andrea Carpenter for expertly moderating both panel sessions, as well as all our panellists:

• Andrew Bentley BEM (PlaceCulture)
• Pete Swift (Planit)
• Frances Jones (Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation)
• Chris Bowen (Torus Developments)
• Simon Layton (Trafford Centre)
• Rob Deacon (Grosvenor)
• Thom Hetherington (Landing Light)
• Preston Benson, Really Local Group 
• Janine Constantin-Russell, The O2 
• Nick Payne, ICITIES 
• Max Farrell, LDN Collective
• Vivienne King, Impactful Places
• Rebecca Morter, Lone Design Club
• Paul Myers, Farm Urban

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