While the UK has long had a reputation for modern and exciting retail and leisure concepts, the last few years have also ushered in a political, social and macroeconomic climate which has added an extra layer of complexity to a hitherto dynamic and stable marketplace.
From the challenges of Brexit to musical chairs in number 10, to pandemic-era protocols and soaring inflation, beyond the pressures of ecommerce, the retail industry in the UK has had to dig deep into its box of tricks to stay afloat and keep consumers happy.
Major high street casualties – particularly in the department store and fashion sub-sectors – have left no business taking the future for granted. Yet, despite significant macroeconomic headwinds and construction complications persisting into 2023, the country is once again setting out its stall as a great innovator in the areas of urban regeneration and footfall-driving concepts.
Meanwhile, footfall in the UK in September was up to levels much closer to pre-pandemic figures, according to the BRC-Sensormatic IQ Footfall Monitor, which found it coming with 10% of 2019 numbers, its highest level since the onset of Covid-19.
Said BRC CEO Helen Dickinson: ‘High streets and retail parks saw an improvement in shopper numbers, while shopping centres continued to lag significantly behind, still more than a fifth down from three years ago.’
Yet Dickinson warned that the numbers did not necessarily signal plain sailing. ‘These figures belie the collapse in consumer confidence which has resulted in falling sales volumes throughout the year. Meanwhile, soaring cost inflation is leading to upwards pressure on prices.’
As the industry looks to the Golden Quarter to try and arrest dips in revenue, one new scheme in particular will look forward to attracting visitors to a unique destination that marries old and new.
Battersea Power Station and other animals
Last month, Battersea Power Station’s grand relaunch was a chance to see this dramatic regeneration project up close. The iconic former factory, immortalised on the London skyline and the cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Animals’ album, finally reopened its doors on October 14 following many decades of wrangling, some 40 years after its closure.
The wider development is owned by a consortium of Malaysian investors comprised of S P Setia (40%), Sime Darby Property (40%) and The Employees’ Provident Fund (20%), with the commercial assets within the Power Station building now being directly owned by Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and EPF.
Simon Murphy, CEO at Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC), said: ‘It has taken a lot of hard work, determination, and the continued commitment of the Malaysian shareholders over the past ten years to bring Battersea Power Station back to its former glory.’
Circus West Village, the first chapter of the regeneration of Battersea Power Station, was the first part to open and has already become a thriving riverside destination and home to over 1,800 people, as well as a mix of independent and design-led bars, restaurants, shops, fitness and wellbeing facilities, a cinema, a theatre and ongoing events programme.
The Grade II listed Power Station itself, the second phase of the development, has been transformed with the addition of 100 shops, restaurants and cafes, an events venue, a unique chimney lift experience, new office space and 254 residential apartments.
The £9 bn (€10.2 bn) regeneration project also includes 19 acres of public space, all serviced by an extension to the London Underground Northern Line. The project covers 42 acres in total and includes 3.5 million ft2 of mixed commercial space.
At its peak, Battersea Power Station supplied a fifth of London’s electricity. The building was decommissioned in 1983 and during the years that followed, several failed attempts were made to redevelop the site. The Power Station has been under the custodianship of the current shareholders since 2012.
The building’s retail offering is housed in the Power Station’s two newly restored, historic Turbine Halls, which although identical when viewed from the building’s exterior, are completely unique in their interior design. Turbine Hall A reflects the Art Deco glamour of the 1930s when the Power Station was built, whereas Turbine Hall B which was completed in the 1950s, has more of a brutalist look and feel.
Inside the Turbine Halls, shoppers can find an array of British and international brands, with the first wave including the likes of Hugo Boss, Theory, Lacoste, Ralph Lauren, Aesop, Space NK, Ace + Tate, lululemon, Mulberry, Jo Malone London, Uniqlo, Mango and a new neighbourhood bookstore, Battersea Bookshop, from specialist bookseller Stanfords.
The Boiler House will also be home to the 24,000 ft2 Arcade Food Hall from JKS Restaurants which will open in 2023. Other food and beverage venues joining the line up inside the Power Station include Le Bab, Where The Pancakes Are, Poke House, Clean Kitchen Club, Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen & Bar and Paris Baguette.
The Power Station’s two Control Rooms, which managed the distribution of power from Carnaby Street to Wimbledon, even powering Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament, have also been fully restored. Control Room A is set to become a unique events space and Control Room B has been transformed into an all-day bar concept.
Entertainment venues include The Cinema at the Power Station – whose sister site The Cinema in the Arches is located under the railway arches in Circus West Village. This also hosts a private members’ film club.
Electric Boulevard, meanwhile, is a new ‘high street’ offering mix of bars and restaurants, office space, shops, a park, community hub and 164 room hotel from art’otel, the brand’s first hotel to open in the UK. Retailers expected to join the line up by Christmas include Zara and a new-concept M&S Foodhall. A 28,000 ft2 club from London fitness brand, Third Space, will also be opening in 2023.
On the docks
The wider capital is not resting on its laurels with further striking projects in the works at Stratford (see p xxx) and beyond. But UK visitors who underestimate the country’s regions are also in for a pleasant surprise.
The city of Liverpool, which will incidentally host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, has been subject to a radical regeneration process in recent years, following on from its nomination as European capital of culture in 2008. The past 15 years have seen the city build on significant funding to transform its old ports and industrial infrastructure, creating one of the most compelling waterfronts in the whole of the UK.
Rising next on the water, in another sympathetic warehouse conversion, Stanley Dock Properties has been granted detailed planning consent from Liverpool City Council to transform the historic Grade II listed Victorian Hydraulic Pumphouse Station in Stanley Dock into an ambitious dining scheme able to seat up to 200 diners.
Part of the ongoing £250 mln (GDV) regeneration of Stanley Dock which will provide a hotel, restaurants and new homes, the designs for the new restaurant in the Pumphouse have been devised by award winning architectural practice Darmody Architecture.
The interior of the Pumphouse has four distinct spaces - an entrance hall, boiler room, accumulator tower and engine room. The new restaurant is part of the £120 mln (GDV) next phase of works at Stanley Dock, with the consented design allowing for the restoration of the entrance hall, with large existing feature doorway, which will lead into the main dining space of the new restaurant.
Said Pat Power, director at Stanley Dock Properties: ‘Stanley Dock Properties are delighted to have been granted detailed planning consent by Liverpool City Council to restore and transform the Grade II* listed historic Pumphouse at Stanley Dock into a new destination restaurant which we believe will become the finest waterfront eatery in the city. This restoration project is part of the regeneration of Stanley Dock into the most exclusive residential and leisure destination in Liverpool.’
The Hydraulic Pumphouse Station at Stanley Dock was designed by Jessie Hartley and originally built in 1854-1855 with the grand brick building in its heyday housing steam-driven hydraulic pumping machinery, made by William Armstrong Co of Newcastle, boilers, chimney and a granite stone hydraulic accumulator tower, believed to be the oldest surviving tower of its kind in the world.
The Pumphouse overlooks waters of the dock and is located adjacent to the historic North Warehouse (built in 1854-1855) which is now the 153 bed Titanic Hotel, one of Liverpool’s most luxurious hotels.
