Comment

Mixed-use developments provide multi-million-pound boost for struggling high streets

Delivering mixed-use developments in UK town centres could add millions of pounds to local economies and create thousands of jobs.

We have developed a new model called “Full Circle” for measuring the impact of mixed-use development in town centres and on struggling high streets.

Using a worked example, we have shown how a major mixed-use regeneration project could boost the amount of money spent in the local economy by £29 million every year.

In this example, around £300 of spending power per square metre of occupied floorspace could be generated by people living and working in the mixed-use development every year.

It also shows that major mixed-use projects in town centres can create significant numbers of new jobs, with the worked example highlighting almost 4,000 jobs could be created.

These findings follow recent store closure announcements from Boots and Debenhams and reports of record low footfall on the high street (BRC[1]). They demonstrate that such closures offer a real opportunity for mixed-use redevelopments to help revitalise struggling centres and provide replacement jobs.

Speaking about the Full Circle model, Chris Pickup, Associate Director of Economics, said:

“Our town centres are crucial to the local communities they serve but they are going through a period of change where gaps are opening up on the high street as store closures occur.  Incorporating mixed-use developments within town centres was intuitively something that we considered to be part of the solution, but we wanted to go further and prove that this was the case. That’s why we developed Full Circle as a tool for measuring the value that mixed-use developments give back to their local economies.”

The figures for growth in spending and job creation are based on an example of a mixed-use development including 60,000 sq m of retail and leisure floorspace, 20,000 sq m of office space, 150 hotel beds and 150 homes.

Richard Laming, Senior Director added:

“We looked around and couldn’t find an off-the-shelf tool for measuring the value of mixed-use town centre development. Our work has shown that every new resident, worker or student attracted by a mixed-use development brings with them spending power. This is good news for town centres where mixed-use developments are being delivered. We’ve called the model Full Circle because of the way that money which circulates within local economies is spent and often re-spent with local businesses, shops and services.

“We hope that Full Circle will be a useful tool for councils grappling with the right mix of uses for their centres and for developers seeking to understand the positive impact that they can have on the high street.”

The Full Circle model was produced by specialists in our Economics team. Please contact Chris Pickup or Richard Laming for more information.  

Download the flyer below to find out more.

18 June 2019

[1] British Retail Consortium (BRC) Footfall and Vacancies Monitor (June 2019)