Evolutionary science shows survival is synonymous with an ability to adapt to the environment. Sometimes haphazard, sometimes planned, sometimes copied, adaptation is the key to survival.
Whether you own or operate real estate, the world is now at one of those moments when more has happened to the environment in two years than would normally be expected in a decade.
In the immediate term, behaviours we were beginning to see pre-Covid are accelerating. People are looking for new ways to use real estate, in part enabled by new technology, and especially now as we re-engage with the physical world instead of the virtual and realise the value from a balance of both.
The challenge is to think about the future as we continue to reinvest in assets. For Hammerson, the goal is to ensure our assets are adaptable to change and reflect the demands of the customers and communities they serve.
Customer experience
We are repurposing our portfolio towards new customer demands and serving multi-use demand. People’s lives are entwined in new ways with work, living, socialising, dining and entertainment meshed together.
Our city assets will reflect this, and we will see more new restaurants, entertainment concepts, health and wellbeing, immersive experiences and entrepreneurial independent brands focused on an enhanced customer experience. We will see faster turnover with events and commercialisation creating an always-changing environment responding to the speed at which the world moves. We will also make sure we are able to densify our assets and add workspace and living uses into the mix.
By placemaking, we enhance the overall customer experience, create new and engaging spaces and attract new occupiers and services. We are already seeing this happen; almost 70% of our leasing deals last year were to non-fashion occupiers.
A highlight was the signing of immersive football and entertainment brand TOCA Social at Birmingham’s Bullring, bringing a new concept to the city and repurposing former retail space. We did this alongside a new investment with M&S, which will bring its latest food hall concept, and relocate and enhance its offer.
In Dublin, we have worked with Selfridges-owned Brown Thomas, which has invested in a 62,000 sq ft upsized store to ‘reinvent retail’ with a concept based on creating real-world experiences that can’t be replicated online. The offer has been refined and taps into demand for sustainable fashion, rental services and live events.
It opened in February and in the first four days attracted 54,000 customers, including 14,000 on its opening day.
We are increasingly using data to forecast trends. By data-modelling each asset, we can adapt the mix of occupiers and experiences to truly reflect the customers and cities we serve.
This enables us to bring forward more opportunities to repurpose parts of our assets for alternative uses. In each of our cities, we have potential for large-scale developments of living uses, workspace, logistics and healthcare, each of which will work alongside our existing assets in a positive-sum way.
Repurposing isn’t just about new retail uses; the scope is broad. We look at the immediate – new uses, entrepreneurs, tech, education and culture. But we also look at the long term and feel confident that cities with a critical mass of people and culture will continue to adapt and survive.
Harry Badham is chief development and asset repositioning officer at Hammerson
No comments yet