Shopping centre development will reach a five-year high in 2018, according to the latest figures from DTZ.
The pipeline of UK mall development stands at 9.6m sq ft to the end of 2018, with more than 5m sq ft of new schemes set to be developed in 2018 alone. That is up from just over 2m sq ft this year and a high of around 3m sq ft in 2011.
In the period between now and 2021, almost 16m sq ft of new shopping space is planned for delivery.
While a return to development is welcomed, the nature of shopping centre schemes has changed, with DTZ claiming the majority of city centre projects no longer have a traditional anchor store, choosing instead to have a strong collection of medium-sized units let to fashion favourites such as Primark and Next, and a much larger leisure element.
DTZ head of retail development John Percy said: “The outlook for retail property development is improving as investor risk appetite moves outward, and the size of the pipeline is testament to this.
“The trend, however, is for mixed-use city schemes incorporating residential, retail and leisure. The latter being the more dominant and complementary use in shopping centre projects.”
