Stuart Harris has contributed to Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) and Revo’s collaborative report which gathers the views of key stakeholders and decision makers from across the public and private sectors with a vested interest and investment in the future planning, management and regeneration of the UK’s towns, high streets and shopping centres.
The research survey posed the question: From recession to renaissance: what is the future for our towns, high streets and shopping centres?
In Stuart’s contribution on Housing in Town Centres he said: “The problems facing our towns and shopping centres have been building up over the last twenty years caused by a combination of short-term planning and an oversupply of retail space. This has been fuelled by institutional investors’ appetite for shopping centre and High Street investments coupled with the private equity fuelled expansion of retailers. This in turn has led to retail space being overpriced and outpricing other uses from our town centres. This problem has now been exacerbated by the huge number of voids that have appeared on our High Streets and in our Shopping Centres as a result of the seismic changes in the retail sector as a result of the growth of online retail and the global pandemic.
“Housing is part of the solution but not on its own. The starting point for any regeneration project is to understand the needs and requirements of the current population; how do people use the current facilities, what’s missing, and what will people need and want in the future.”
Stuart also contributed an article on Investment In Town Centre’s which is also included in the full report.
For Stuart’s articles and to read the report in full, please click here.
