Retailers create work at top shopping centres

One of the few growth areas seen in the retail sector this year has been in projects refurbishing and expanding major shopping centres around larger cities.

Large shopping destinations are attracting a growing share of retail spending, and both landlords and the retail brands themselves are keen to expand and update their facilities to maintain their appeal.

Meanwhile, developers are seeking to shift shopping destinations away from being purely retail and to include a mix of leisure and food & drink space, along with some residential and green areas.

Glenigan data reflects the upturn in activity in the sector; project starts on shopping centre schemes were worth £23 million in the three months to July, up 56% on the period a year earlier.

Landsec, the UK’s largest property group, whose retail portfolio includes Bluewater off the M25 in Kent, Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, and St David’s in Cardiff, noted in its latest annual report that the top 1% of all shopping destinations in the UK have access to 30% of all in-store retail spending.

With some 90% of Landsec’s retail assets sitting within this top 1% bracket, the group’s mantra has understandably been to focus on ‘fewer, bigger, better stores in the best locations’.

New work opportunities

This, in turn, is creating new construction work opportunities. Over 2024/25, Landsec saw 17 retail brands increase their space in its shopping centres. Meanwhile, 30 new brands opened up in its centres and 45 existing brands opened stores in new locations across its centres.

Next, the clothes retailer, tripled the size of its existing store in Bluewater to 133,000 sq ft, and Primark doubled its store size in Landsec’s White Rose centre in Leeds to 71,000 sq ft.

Landsec also has some significant projects in the pipeline across the sector. The group plans to invest a further £1 billion in its retail destinations over the next one to three years, which is set to involve around £200 million of capital expenditure.

Like the significant expansions at Bluewater, the group is planning new food & beverage destinations at Leeds and on the waterfront at Gunwharf Quays.

Landsec is also undertaking a ‘repositioning’ of its Buchanan Galleries shopping centre in Glasgow (pictured), where detailed plans for a £50 million shopping/leisure conversion have been submitted and work is set to start next spring (Project ID: 25371274).

Significant projects

Glenigan data gives details on other significant shopping centre projects which are due to get underway across the country.

Tenders have recently been returned on an £80 million scheme at Phase II of McArthurGlen Designer Outlet East Midlands at Cannock, involving around 13,700 sqm of retail space and a revamp of the food court. Work on the project is due to start next spring and run for 11 months (Project ID: 15067377).

In Shrewsbury, outline plans have been submitted for the £67 million retail-led Smithside Riverside Redevelopment. This involves a part-demolition of the existing Pride Hill shopping centre and new space for a retail pavilion, a boutique, cinema, bars, and restaurants. An outdoor event space for local enterprises is also planned. The scheme is at the pre-tender stage, but work is set to get underway in early 2026 and run for 36 months (Project ID: 11205228).

Meanwhile, work is due to start in Northampton town centre this autumn on a refurbishment of the vacant Market Walk shopping centre to create an innovative food hall and leisure space. The £12.5 million scheme, across almost 2,500 sq m of space, has benefitted from cash from the Towns Fund (Project ID:17004486).