Record year for European shopping centres

The record for shopping centres development in Europe is likely to be broken again in 2006, according to new research by Cushman & Wakefield. Anticipating a strong finish to the year, the report said up to 6.4 million m² of space will be added this year, with a further 1 million m² of extensions to existing schemes.

The estimates for 2007 indicate that very high levels of development, particularly in the more emerging markets, are set to continue with up to 7.4 million m² of new schemes in the pipeline, plus another 1 million m² of extensions. 'Total Europe [shopping centre] space should break through the 100 million m² barrier by next summer,' the report said.

Russia and Poland dominate the development drive in Central and Eastern Europe. More than 40 new centres are due for completion in Russia by the end of 2007. Romania is a 'development hotbed' and Poland remains the key CEE market. 'The Polish market is maturing, but Western developers are still actively improving the quality of stock by bringing state-of-the-art malls, such as ING and Rodamco's much-anticipated Zlote Tarasy, to the market,' the report said.

There are healthy development pipelines in France and Germany, but the UK market will be more subdued until 2008. More regional centres are cropping up in Spain and Italy, while the largest net gain in 2006 is in Ireland. The previous record-breaking years for European shopping centre development was in 1998, 1999 and 2000, Cushman & Wakefield said.