
Here at Advantage, we provide structural warranties for renovations, extensions, part-completed properties and completed properties with defects, so we’re no strangers to working with businesses or individuals who need cover while making important updates to existing development.
You’d have to have been living under a rock (and therefore not in need of our services!) not to have noticed that things have been evolving swiftly in the world of retail in recent decades. As a result of the changing needs of the retail sector, Internet Retailing reported that: The number of retail units that were structurally changed or redeveloped – demolished, merged, split or converted for another use such as residential or logistics – increased by 32% in 2018 as landlords and place managers work to re-imagine requirements for bricks and mortar retailing.
A new report by retail location insight business the Local Data Company reviews changes across more than 650,000 retail and leisure units to analyse the rate of UK market change in 2018.
The number of units being redeveloped increased from 2,646 in 2016, to 2,706 in 2017 and jumped to 3,577 in 2018. This year-on-year increase shows the growing trend for landlords to reconsider how the existing retail stock is best used to meet the changing needs of consumers.
Lucy Stainton, Head of Retail and Strategic Partnerships, gave an overview of the changing retail landscape, saying:
“2018 was another unprecedented year of change as the sustained challenges faced by many legacy brands collided with an advent of new concepts – these constantly shifting sands making conditions tougher than ever for most operators. However, any headline statistics by no means represents the full story and beneath some undeniably stark high-level numbers we can see a multitude of emerging trends and brands which hint at a very bright, diverse future for our high streets.
“This is shown particularly by two years of strong growth in more service-led categories such as barbers and beauty salons. Alongside this, a more diverse assortment of restaurants are increasingly opening on our high streets, serving up fresh and exciting cuisines such as Iranian, Malaysian and, of course, Vegan.”
Stainton added that:
“The first four months of 2019 has already seen the likes of Debenhams announce a CVA and the owner of Cotswold Outdoor plan closures. It will be interesting to see if this denotes a further year of turmoil for the industry or if this is perhaps the storm before a calmer period in H2 2019.”
If you or one of your clients is planning to redevelop existing units and needs the right cover, call us on 0845 900 3969 or email sales@ahci.co.uk and we’ll be happy to offer friendly tailored advice.
Want to learn more? Contact one of our relationship managers today to discuss your requirements on 0845 900 3969