Dutch investors Syntrus Achmea and ASR have formed an alliance to improve the shopping district on the Lijnbaan shopping street in Rotterdam, Boris van der Gijp, director research and strategy at Syntrus Achmea, told delegates at a panel discussion on Smart Cities at the Provada real estate fair in Amsterdam on Tuesday.

The panel was hosted by PropertyEU and its partners ULI, RICS and ICSC/NRW at the International Business Lounge at Provada.

'City districts should be managed like a shopping centre,' Van der Gijp said. 'Landlords need to ensure that shoppers find the right mix of customer experience, food and beverage and leisure programmes 24/7,' he told the panel.

The alliance with ASR is not based on a formal structure but was prompted by the need to cooperate on this front together with the local authorities. A formal structure would have taken too long to create, Van der Grijp said, given the large number of smaller landlords with smaller holdings. Syntrus Achmea is the largest retail landlord on the high street with over 40 properties, he said.

In London by contrast, landlords in the shopping district spanned by the well-known retail destinations Oxford St, Bond St and Regent St have opted to band together in a formal partnership called New West End Company, the company's CEO Jace Tyrell told the delegates. The company is a not-for-profit organisation financed by levies from the district's retail landlords based on the value of their property. The model originated in North America in the 1970s, Tyrell said. 'Our goal is to drive value and sales and lobbying for the benefet of the whole area.'

In the past decade sales in the West End have almost doubled to £9 bn (€11.5 bn) and are set to rise further to £16 bn by 2025, he said. All in all, the company has invested some £50 mln on behalf of its members and more is on the cards.

The arrival of the Crossrail transport link connecting west and east London will create further opportunities for growth. But the huge scale of development also presents  challenges, he conceded. 'The challenge is to continue trading and at the same time adapt to the changing dynamics of London.'