EG Question Time: Glasgow retail under fire

Glasgow has for decades been touted by retail experts as the UK’s second shopping destination. Its multitude of shopping centres and famous main shopping road, Buchanan Street, has made it a go-to destination for retailers entering the UK. That reputation is, however, seemingly under threat, according to the panel at EG’s Glasgow Question Time at the Principal Grand Central Hotel. Out of town the city has competition like no other and has endured a relative lack of investment in the centre that has seen its reputation dwindle. Its “golden Z” – made up of legendary shopping streets Sauchiehall Street, Buchanan Street and Argyle Street is considered by most people in Glasgow to no longer exist. While Buchanan Street remains an area occupiers are condensing into, Sauchiehall Street has reinvented itself as a destination for students with a varied bar offering, while Argyle Street seems to have simply been left behind. “The core has been around Buchanan Street for so long it’s a bit of a one-trick pony. Glasgow is getting left behind. The city centre has not seen investment for a long period of time, although [Landsec’s] Buchanan Galleries has been tinkered with,” said Stuart Moncur, head of retail for Scotland at Savills. He added: “Glasgow is unique in that intu, Hammerson, British Land and Landsec have significant retail and leisure holdings here. No other city has that competition.” Peel’s Lifestyle Outlets business is developing a 350,000 sq ft retail-led, mixed-use scheme that is due to be delivered on the bank of the River Clyde in 2021. There was broad consensus that Glasgow has an over-abundance of shops, the outlet centre’s city centre location and its offer, which is different to that of the shopping centres owned by the major players, would, the panel hoped, be enough to draw punters in. “We all order a lot of trousers or dresses that are then returned and the stock is circulated through outlets and sold at a discount. The changes that we are seeing in the economy are really benefiting the subsector and it is one not represented here,” said Jason Pullen, managing director. The problem with planning The planning system is the bane of most developers’ lives but in few other places is its negative influence felt as clearly as in Scotland, whose planners stand out, for both the public and private sector, as having a worse record than those in the rest of the UK. Developers agreed that they were often deterred from developing schemes in Scotland if there were opportunities elsewhere. However, Katrine Feldinger, head of investment at the Scottish government, said that the public sector was looking at ways to reshape the system so that planning decisions could be reached more quickly. “We have new planning legislation going through parliament that is due to conclude in March next year… there is nothing I can do about staffing around key functions. I have had suggestions about whether there is a possibility to speed things up. It’s not something I can promise but it is something we are critically aware of,” she said. While Pullen praised Glasgow’s “Team Glasgow” attitude within the private sector, he said that the length of time required to obtain planning permission and the associated burden might be enough to deter him from doing another project in Glasgow if an opportunity was available elsewhere in the UK, where planners are often more amenable. In general, major schemes in Glasgow take 41 weeks to gain approval compared with a UK average of 16 weeks. “In England we quite often sign planning performance agreements, and that allows major applications to move more quickly. I definitely agree it should be looked at. In other areas they have specific teams that help deal with major applications,” he said. Not yet a serviced offices Mecca  WeWork may now be London’s largest private occupier but it is yet to plant its flag in the ground in Scotland. It is, though, searching for bases in Glasgow and Edinburgh for both leasehold and freehold opportunities. Some members of the audience cast doubt as to whether Glasgow was “cool enough” or “Shoreditchy” enough for serviced offices to work, but experts were adamant that its pitch, and those of other serviced office operators, were appealing to start-up businesses and making those providers profitable.   This was true of both city centre and out-of-town locations. “We are on the edge of the city and we can’t build serviced offices quick enough,” said Mandy Watson, project director at Clyde Gateway, which is developing Magenta business park. “It’s an interesting market to watch and if I was a landlord of smaller, traditional accommodation, I think I would be a little worried.” While some landlords have shown some concern about letting their whole buildings to a serviced office operator, Will Hean, head of Scotland for Osborne & Co, which is developing a 285,000 sq ft office scheme on Argyle Street, said he would welcome such a tenant with open arms. “As part of your tenant provision it works well and I think a lot of the major occupiers won’t go into a building unless there is that element as part of a tenant mix, creating additional expansion space for them in case they need it for individual projects,” he said. 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