Too many city centres across England and Wales are over-dependent on retail, and must swap shops for offices, housing and public space to transform their economic prospects.
This is according to a report published today by the think tank Centre for Cities (with support from Capita), which examines for the first time the composition of commercial space in UK cities, and the implications this has for their economies.
It warns that struggling high streets have too many shops – but not enough demand for commercial space from other businesses, and other uses such as housing and leisure.
For example, in struggling city centres (1) – defined as those with small shares of highly productive firms and jobs – retail accounts for twice as much space as offices (measured in m2). In contrast, successful city centres (2) have more than three times more office space than retail.
Moreover, the report shows that the high number of empty shops in struggling city centres reflects broader economic challenges they face. For example, the centres of Newport and Blackpool – where retail accounts for half of commercial space, but 1 in 4 shops are vacant – have also seen a decrease in jobs in recent decades:
Commenting on these findings, Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, said:
The report makes a number of recommendations on the role of commercial space – alongside wider interventions on skills and transport – in the upcoming local industrial strategies (LIS), which places are developing as part of Government efforts to boost productivity:
“Each day seems to bring a new crisis for the high street, but the answer is not to double down on the declining retail sector. Instead, we need to reimagine struggling city centres as places where lots of different businesses can locate and create jobs – and where lots of people want to go to for a variety of reasons.
“This means reducing the reliance on shops, and focusing on creating a more attractive environment for a wider range of firms. We also need to make our high streets more open and appealing spaces for people to spend time or live in, by improving public realm and transport links, and potentially introducing more housing.
“Of course, repurposing high streets for other uses can be a difficult and costly process, and some cities will need investment from Government to support that transition. But it will be crucial in transforming the fortunes of our city centres, and the prospects of people living or working in them.”
Giulia Bunting, Planning Director at GL Hearn, part of Capita Real Estate and Infrastructure said
“The challenges facing our high streets and city centres are nothing new to those of us who work regularly in the retail sector. The need for strong, healthy town and city centres is clear, if they are to attract the footfall needed for our retail and leisure space to thrive.
“There is much that cities and the government can do to help support and bolster retail such as business rates reform. We should be levelling the tax playing field for physical stores and online operators as well as showing real leadership and support for the re-invention of places and introducing more flexible platform to harness new opportunities for regeneration/repurposing.
“Our challenge is to work collaboratively with all parties to make the changes set out in this report to help to create proper mixed use places, which include retail in well designed, publicly accessible and attractive places.”
ENDS
For more information or to set up an interview, please contact Brian Semple, Head of Communications for Centre for Cities, on 020 7803 4316 / 0795 439 638 or b.semple@centreforcities.org
NOTES TO EDITORS
(1) Struggling city centres are defined as those which have a lower than average share of jobs in high-productivity exporting firms, and a lower than average share of these are high-skilled. This group includes as Blackpool, Derby, Newport, Leicester, Swansea, and Mansfield. (2) Successful city centres are defined as those which have a higher than average share of jobs in high-productivity exporting firms, and a higher than average share of these exporting jobs are high-skilled. This group includes Reading, Slough, Milton Keynes, London, Brighton, Cardiff, Leeds, Bournemouth, Manchester, and Birmingham. Data sources:
· Jobs growth in city centre (1998-2015) – Office for National Statistics, Business Structure Database
About Centre for Cities
Centre for Cities is a research and policy institute, dedicated to improving the economic success of UK cities. We are a charity that works with cities, business and Whitehall to develop and implement policy that supports the performance of urban economies. We do this through impartial research and knowledge exchange. For more information, please visit centreforcities.org/about
About Capita Real Estate and Infrastructure
Capita Real Estate and Infrastructure is one of the UK’s leading consultancies providing professional real estate, design, project delivery, infrastructure, and business transformation services. With 2,500 staff in offices throughout the UK, we work across a variety of sectors including central and local government, defence, education, healthcare, utilities, housing, environment and transport.
Every day we advise on real estate solutions, provide professional expertise and creative delivery on real estate and infrastructure projects and provide specialist asset and business support. Our teams span many markets working with private sector corporates and local authorities throughout the United Kingdom. From design, to management, to civil engineering, to strategic consultancy, we provide strategic advice right through the asset life cycle, creating tomorrow’s prosperous and connected places.
We are part of Capita plc, the UK’s leading provider of integrated professional support service solutions. Find out more about Capita Real Estate at http://www.capitaproperty.co.uk/
Capita is a leading provider of technology enabled business services, operating across five key markets: Customer Management; People Solutions; Software; IT Services and Government Services. Working across the UK, Europe, India and South Africa, we use our expertise, talent and technology to partner with our clients to transform services and add value for all their stakeholders. Capita is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (CPI.L). Further information on Capita can be found at: http://www.capita.com |
Comments
New comments are no longer being accepted.
Ian Alexander
I am in Mantua at the moment, a prosperous north Italian small city. The city centre is wonderful. I have not noticed a single empty/boarded up shop. There are few chain stores and the mixture of historic buildings, public spaces, shops, restaurants and cafes is a delight. Most of the historic centre is pedestrianised and to a high standard. It is a pleasure to spend time wandering around. I imagine the Italians spend less online than the Brits and enjoy the physical shopping experience more?
My own city, Edinburgh, is an economic and cultural success story and hopefully about to undergo radical changes in its historic core. The plan is to significant reduce vehicles and pollution in the centre, increase pedestrianisation, create segregated cycle paths and in general rebalance the centre in favour of the pedestrian. Edinburgh begins from a very high level in terms of its historic centre wich is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site but if we cannot get it right what chance is there for other urban centres in the UK