Falling levels for shopping centre construction

Shopping centres have seen heavy effects from

the recession. According to research from leading global property advisor, CB Richard Ellis, the rate of shopping centre construction activity has fallen to levels not seen since the hard times of the 1990’s economy.

Shopping centre development has fallen to less than 25 percent of levels recorded in the first half of 2007, immediately before the onset of the credit crisis, and continues to contract in Great Britain with new completions set to provide less than 3 million square foot of space in 2011. More than half the total of new shopping centre space completed this year is accounted for by a single scheme, the 1.9 million sq ft Westfield Stratford in East London due to open in September 2011.

Mark Disney, Shopping Centre Development & Leasing Director, CB Richard Ellis, commented: “Retailer demand is increasingly focused on larger shopping centres, but the lack of new development is limiting opportunities. We are seeing strong demand for new space in schemes such as Westfield Stratford, but demand is also strong for space in established major shopping centres like Bluewater, Meadowhall, and the Trafford Centre.”

He continues, “The market is now gradually adapting to developers’ requirements to see committed income before starting on-site. We are also seeing greater evidence of retailers being prepared to agree pre-lettings as they play their part in unblocking the pipeline to deliver the space that they need. After the current hiatus in the pipeline, we expect that a flow of new schemes will begin to be delivered to the market from 2015/2016 onwards.”