New openings and redevelopments of UK shopping centres will reach a four-year high in 2017, in stark contrast to the first half of 2016 which saw no new floor space added, according to Cushman & Wakefield's latest UK Shopping Centre Development Report.
While total UK shopping centre floor space for the first six months remained static at 17.25 mln m2, around 132,911 m2 will open or complete by the end of 2016 across some 10 schemes.
Four of these schemes are new developments totalling 80,272 m2, including Victoria Gate in Leeds and Bond Street in Chelmsford, both anchored by a John Lewis department store. The other six, representing 52,639 m2 of extensions or redevelopments, comprise the leisure-focussed Watermark Westquay in Southampton and the next phase of Moor Sheffield.
'In football parlance, this has been a year of two halves,' said John Percy, Cushman & Wakefield’s head of shopping centre development consultancy. 'After a quiet first six months, we will see schemes completing up and down the country and 2017 will be busier still.'
A further 252,936 m2 will launch in 2017 across six schemes, adding the most new floor space seen in the UK since 2013, when Trinity Leeds opened. The largest of these projects is Lexicon in Bracknell, with a GLA of nearly 54,000 m2.
'Despite the uncertainty that following the EU referendum, prime retail vacancy rates are low and should help to maintain a healthy balance between supply and demand,' concluded Justin Taylor, Cushman & Wakefield’s head of retail.
