Time to rethink old ideas and change our spaces, streets and strategies

EDITOR’S COMMENT I’ve found myself thinking about a shopping centre conversion in Oxford quite a lot recently. Bear with me, that’s not quite as sad a statement as it appears. Lothbury Investment Management’s plans to turn the city’s shabby Clarendon Centre into not just a retail and office scheme, but also laboratories and student digs, have stuck with me as an example of just how bold asset owners can be when it comes to revitalising and repurposing sites. Have we ever needed a proper injection of bold thinking quite as much as now? Our town centres are at tipping point, we’re unsure of whether our offices will lie half empty for half of the week, the balance sheets of some of the biggest real estate companies are getting an absolute battering. There can’t be any room for run-of-the-mill approaches anymore. We all need to be thinking on that “lab space over retail” type of level. I came back to that idea reading several of the stories in this week’s edition, all of which focused on new thinking around old ideas and assets. Rita-Rose Gagné certainly faces a hell of a task in turning around the fortunes of Hammerson. The new chief executive admitted in her first results call last week that 2020 was an “awful” year for the business. But when you read her interview with EG, it’s hard not to hear the words of a new leader ready to do whatever it takes to sort that mess out. As Gagné puts it, “nothing is off the table” in terms of disposals – and why should it be? This is not the time to be wedded to a trophy asset, or a strategy set out in a different age, or a measure of success that was defined by a predecessor. The company’s plans to turn the former Debenhams store in Leicester into a build-to-rent scheme highlight that. How long before we stop referring to Hammerson as a “shopping centre owner” as a stock description?  Look too at what some of the local authorities chastised for buying up shopping centres are now planning with their assets. The proposals for several to redevelop these into green space, new housing and other schemes show a willingness to bring something fresh to the table. Then there is Derwent’s Paul Williams. Speaking as he took the chair at the Westminster Property Association, Williams told EG how much he had been struck by seeing throngs of people eating and drinking in the streets as the council tried to help businesses serve customers while maintaining social distancing. It’s a small shift, but with a petition circulating trying to prevent the licensing rules from being altered in that way again, not one to be taken for granted. Here’s hoping those who share Williams’ enthusiasm for the re-think prevail. I wish I could say that our interview with RICS chief executive Sean Tompkins made me think of bold actions, or re-evaluating priorities, or anything other than how disappointing some of the responses were. RICS has been torn apart by members and onlookers alike across its recent corporate governance scandals, but you wouldn’t really know that from Tompkins’ words. Yes, he acknowledges the criticisms and the controversy. But nothing he says really sounds like RICS is ready to change. I’m sure the apology he declined to give members will be forthcoming if the results of the independent review necessitate it. And if they don’t, it probably won’t. Business as usual, in that case. Should that really be an option? So many of the other businesses in this week’s edition think not. I hope RICS will realise the same. Bold, ambitious and proud are three words you’ll hear plenty of on 25 March when you tune into EG’s Future of Manchester. Register at www.egi.co.uk/thefutureofukcities/manchester/  To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@egi.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @estatesgazette