The changing high street – CBRE, London, 6th Nov 2012

Society for Property ResearchersDate: Tuesday 6th November
Venue: CBRE, Henrietta House, Henrietta Place, London W1G 0NB
Nearest tube: Bond Street
Time: 6.30pm – 8pm (Registration at 6pm)

We’re excited to announce the first collaborative meeting between the Society for Location Analysis (SLA) and the Society for Property Researchers (SPR) which examines the changing high street and its prospects going forward.

Many High Streets look to be on their last legs. Vacancy rates have proliferated. Stock obsolescence problems seem to become more pronounced by the day. Administrations show no signs of easing. Mainstream investors continue their retreat from High Street shopping. Multiple retrenchment into larger towns has turned from a trickle into a flood. And expiry clusters appear to threaten secondary shopping everywhere. So where is all this going?

Are things really as bad as they look or is something entirely different actually happening on the UK’s embattled High Streets? Are we actually seeing the beginning of a renaissance as obsolete shopping is finally forced into other uses? With little in the way of speculative development activity, is the investment focus poised to switch back to prime High Street? Leading retail market commentator Jonathan Reynolds of OXIRM is joined by Richard Gwilliam of Prupim, Gregor Durston of SpaceNK and Roger Wade of BOXPARK to discuss the high street problem.

Chair – Neil Blake, Head of UK & EMEA Research, CBRE

Key-note Speaker:

Jonathan Reynolds, Academic Director of the Oxford Institute of Retail Management, OXIRM

Speakers:

Richard Gwilliam, Head of Property Research, PRUPIM
Gregor Durston, SpaceNK
Roger Wade, CEO & Founder BOXPARK

Download speaker’s presentations

Download Jonathan Reynold’s presentation Prospects for the High Street

Download Richard Gwilliam’s presentation “High Street Retail – Where Next?”

Download Gregor Durston’s presentation “The High Street: The heart of every community?”

Download Roger Wade’s presentation “The Future of Retail: Multichannel Store”

Agenda

  • 18.30 – Chair’s opening remarks – Neil Blake, CBRE
  • 18.40 – Jonathan Reynolds, OXIRM
  • 19.00 – Richard Gwilliam, Prupim
  • 19.20 – Gregor Durston, SpaceNK
  • 19.40 – Roger Wade, Boxpark
  • 20.00 – Chair: close, networking – Neil Blake

Speaker synopsis

Gregor Durston, SpaceNK
Gregor will begin with a focus on the biggest challenge to the high street. He will then provide a definition of the high street and present some additional thoughts on customer depletion. He will touch on forthcoming lease expiry’s and the impact this will have as well as retailer withdrawal reasons e.g. saturation, market turmoil, internet shopping etc. Gregor will share insights into Space NK’s high street and also his views on multi-channel retailing, site selection and working the high street.

Speaker biographies

Dr Neil Blake, CBREDr Neil Blake, Head of UK and EMEA Research, CBRE

Dr Neil Blake is Head of UK and EMEA Research for CBRE. Prior to joining CBRE in mid-2012 Neil has held positions of Director of Economic Analysis at Oxford Economics and Director of Economics and Forecasting at Experian Business Strategies. He has also worked for Wharton Econometrics (Global Insight) and the University of East Anglia. He holds degrees from the Universities of York and Warwick.

Neil has extensive knowledge of economic modelling and forecasting and has worked on numerous retail and property-related projects. These include modelling international property returns for a leading agent, work for the Barker Review on the economic effects of restrictions on housing supply, the RICS City Office Model, “How Much Space?” and “Retail Voids” for the BCSC, “The Future of Retail” for the BRC and the IPF Research Foundation’s project on “Property and Inflation”, contributing to the development of an investment strategy for a major Dutch property investor as well as modelling, forecasting and scenario analysis of the demand for commercial and residential space in Abu Dhabi.

Neil is a member of the SPR and is a frequent speaker at SPR, IPF and IPD events.

Dr Jonathan Reynolds, OXIRMDr Jonathan Reynolds, Academic Director of the Oxford Institute of Retail Management and Associate Dean at the University of Oxford’s Said Business School

Jonathan Reynolds is Academic Director of the Oxford Institute of Retail Management and Associate Dean at the University of Oxford’s Said Business School.

A geographer and planner by background, he now works with students of marketing and retailing of all ages and leads applied research projects on the sector internationally.

He is the current director of the longstanding Oxford Retail Location Analysis workshop (which next runs between 8-10 April, 2013).

Richard Gwilliam, PRUPIMRichard Gwilliam, Head of Property Research, PRUPIM

Richard is Head of Property Research at PRUPIM.

He is responsible for the overall direction of property research within PRUPIM, including the analysis of the UK and global property markets, the formation of in-house views, and determination of strategy for PRUPIM’s funds, as well as bespoke in-depth research projects.

Richard has a decade of analysis and research experience within property investment; before joining PRUPIM in 2006, he spent three years at IPD.

Roger Wade, CEO & Founder BOXPARK

Roger Wade is the Founder and ex owner of the Original British Street Fashion brand, Boxfresh. After spending a few years in Advertising after graduating from University, Roger started Boxfresh in 1989. He grew the brand from a market stall, to an International Brand selling in over 12 different countries. Boxfresh were reknowned pioneers of the British Street scene, and were the first to import labels like Carhartt, G-Star and Penfield into the UK. in 2005, Roger sold the Boxfresh to Pentland Brands and formed his own Brand Consultancy, Brands Incorporated, specialising in the development, financing and licensing of UK Fashion Brands. In 2010, Roger founded and created the World’s first Pop Up Mall, Boxpark Shoreditch. BOXPARK is constructed of stripped, and refitted shipping containers, to create unique, low cost, low risk, ‘box shops’. Filled with a unique mix of international fashion and lifestyle brands, galleries and cafés, it’s the world’s first ‘pop-up’ mall – so named because its basic building blocks are inherently movable: they can, and will, pop up anywhere in the world!
Roger is a regular columnist for Drapers, a guest speaker at Manchester and London fashion network, an Associate Lecturer at London College of Fashion, and is a member of the Cool Brands Council.


Registration: To book your place on this event, please email info@thesla.org