Intu Group news and archive

Intu appoints James Saunders as new chief people officer

British shopping centre owner Intu has appointed Vodafone’s former head of HR James Saunders as chief people officer of its executive team. As part of Intu’s five-year strategy, Saunders has taken on the newly-created role to lead the company’s employee experience, as well as to attract and retain talent within the business. In the past, aside...

BusinessFeatured

Intu appoints chief restructuring officer as Covid-19 crisis grows

Shopping centre owner Intu has appointed David Hargrave as chief restructuring officer to help the company through the Covid-19 pandemic. Hargrave has 20 years of experience as a partner in the restructuring practices of both PwC and EY, specialising in business turnarounds across many sectors, and his role as chief restructuring officer at Intu...

RetailFeatured

Retailers ‘go purple’ in support of disabled customers

Retailers and shopping destinations including Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s and centres owned and managed by Intu and The Crown Estate are looking to improve the customer experience for disabled people by supporting Purple Tuesday, taking place today, November 12. The accessible shopping day is encouraging businesses to improve customer...

Business

Intu rebrands Spanish shopping resort

Intu, owner of many of the largest retail and leisure destinations in the UK and Spain, has rebranded one of its largest shopping resorts, Puerto Venecia in Zaragoza, northern Spain, which it acquired in 2014. Occupying over 206,000 square metres, the shopping resort which combines retail with leisure activities, centred around a lakeside...

Retail

River Island and Zara to expand in Intu Lakeside

High street fashion chains River Island and Zara have both confirmed that they will be expanding their Intu Lakeside flagships this year, as part of the Essex shopping centre’s extensive refurbishment. River Island will be doubling its current footprint to 21,000 square foot, while Zara is taking three times more space to create two new flagship...

Business

Hammerson to acquire Intu in 3.4 billion pound deal

British shopping centre owner Hammerson has made a recommended 3.4 billion pound offer for smaller rival Intu Group, which would see London’s Brent Cross, Birmingham’s Bullring and Manchester’s Trafford Centre combined into one group. Hammerson, which owns the Bullring along with shopping centres including Brent Cross in London, Cabot Circus in...

Retail

Intu introduces robot retail assistants

Shopping centre group Intu has introduced Bo, Europe’s first ever ‘shop-bot’ robot that will interact with shoppers at Intu Milton Keynes. The robotic retail assistant will direct shoppers to different parts of the centre, ask them about their shopping experience, as well as tell them about special offers they can take up at different shops in...

Business

intu Accelerate to introduce seven transformative retail start-ups

intu Accelerate, part of intu Group, one of the UK's leading shopping centre owners, has launched a start-up incubation programme to help transform UK retail. Seven new businesses with innovative ideas for British retail have joined intu Accelerate, run together with innovation specialists L Marks, to develop new technologies and services for...

Retail

Intu pilots virtual reality in its shopping centres

Shopping centre owner Intu is piloting paid-for virtual reality experiences at three of its most popular retail and leisure destinations over August, where customers can interact with characters from The Emoji Movie. The pilot will take place in Merry Hill, Lakeside and Braehead, before Intu makes the decision on whether to roll out more virtual...

Retail

Intu to create Autism hour

Intu shopping centres is launching a week-long event in partnership with The National Autistic Society, which will see retailers in its 14 centres nationwide participating in the UK’s first ‘Autism Hour’ in October. The Autism hour will see retailers and the shopping centre reducing their lights, music and other background noise for an hour at...

Retail

Intu plans to increase dwell time with digital screens

Shopping centre group Intu is installing innovative Epoch screens, which revolved between portrait and landscape to keep shopping centre customers entertained, in a number of its locations in a bid to drive footfall and dwell time. The screens, which have never been used within the retail market before, will be installed at Intu Lakeside, Intu...

Business

Intu adds Madrid shopping centre to portfolio

Shopping centre group Intu has confirmed that it has exchanged and completed contracts with the Ivanhoé Cambridge Group to acquire Xanadú shopping centre in Madrid, Spain. The deal, which includes the shopping centre along with the associated management company and the SnowZone operating company, is valued at 530 million euros. Intu said the...