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‘QUAY’ OPENS DOOR TO REVIVAL FOR SOUTHAMPTON

By Barbara Hogan Galvin

LONDON — The urban renewal trend is just as strong in the United Kingdom as it is in the United States and other European countries. Typically, a retail component is developed as part of an overall revitalization plan by a city.

However, in the case of West Quay shopping center in Southampton, England, it was actually the building of the mall that led to the revamping of the city’s image.

When construction began on the center in 1997, the city’s image was less than desirable. Described by Vanessa Forster, asset management director for West Quay, as “grimy and unfriendly,” Southampton’s downtown certainly was not in line with the modern flagship shopping center being planned there by the property firm Hammerson, based here. So, in addition to building the mall, the developers set out to build up the city as well, by involving Southampton officials in many aspects of the development process.

When West Quay opened its doors last September, it did so as the retail focal point of a newly revived city. The mainly white-collar city of around 500,000 is located about two hours from London. Nearly 2 million people live within a 45-minute drive of the shopping center, with an annual spending power of £2.3 billion.

At nearly 800,000 square feet, the two-level mall with 80 tenants boasts some of the top names in English and international retailing. Many of the tenants are new to the region, such as Tower Records, Gap, H&M, The Discovery Store, Karen Millen and Sephora. Anchors include a 260,000-square-foot John Lewis department store and a 95,000-square-foot Marks & Spencer specialty store. As of late December, the center was 95% leased and occupied.

Convincing top merchants of Southampton’s brightening retail future was a tough challenge, said Sheila Sullivan, leasing director for Hammerson. “It was difficult for some tenants to realize the potential of Southampton and be certain that the city would attract the critical mass that they were looking for.”

The 33-acre project, jointly developed and owned by Hammerson and locally based Barclays Bank, carried a price tag of more than $525 million. The center is managed by CB Hillier Parker, London.

As landlord of this huge structure, Hammerson took proactive steps to make city officials comfortable with the project from its inception.

“It’s one thing to physically integrate a building into a city, but it’s how you integrate it from a business and a community perspective that makes all the difference,” said Forster.

That philosophy started from early 1998 when Hammerson acquired the project, and has been carried through to the present day. Starting in 1998, Forster began to meet regularly with a group of city executives in order to keep them abreast of how the development was progressing and to address any initial concerns about the project.

“We always talked about ‘Southampton,’ rather than just ‘West Quay’ when discussing the project, because we wanted to let them know that we had a long-term commitment to the city,” Forster said. Initially, the community’s main questions and concerns were about the effects West Quay would have on existing retailers in Southampton, she said. “We reassured them that a project like West Quay would bring a considerable amount of new shoppers to the area, and that these customers would shop the whole city, not just West Quay.”

These open relationships with city officials were most beneficial when specific projects or challenges cropped up, Forster said, since she could go directly to the executive directors of the local authorities to resolve issues quickly.

Through these relationships, a number of partnership projects arose between the mall and the city. One of these initiatives involved staffing the shopping center. West Quay created more than 3,500 new jobs — a tall order to fill all at one time.

The addition of West Quay helped enhance the image of Southampton, England.

What developed was “West Quay 2000,” an effort that involved the city’s employment services department, the local college and Hammerson.

Months before the mall opened, a colorful “West Quay” bus was sent out to some areas of the community where employment was most needed. This bus was staffed with representatives from the college, offering free training to community residents to help them develop the skills necessary to work at the shopping center.

Then, just before the mall opened, the bus went back out into the community as sort of a mobile recruitment center, taking applications and filling its database with the names of potential employees. Mall retailers then came to the employee center and were matched with the names of workers who had the right skills or special requirements for employment. “West Quay 2000” worked so well that only two retailers in the center found the need to advertise for specific staff members, Forster said.

In order to further strengthen the partnership between the mall and the city, Southampton was marketed in conjunction with West Quay in order for the city to overcome its poor image as a retail destination.

In fact, some shoppers were travelling as far away as London — about 100 miles — to find the type of quality retailing environment the city was lacking, Sullivan said. Southampton’s downtown stores were very small, outdated and didn’t offer a selection of some of the country’s cutting-edge retailers, she added.

Hammerson allocated about $150,000 for the city’s marketing campaign. Six pieces of key literature about the city were created, including a shopping guide to Southampton, a travel guide, and information about transportation options and schedules. The branded pamphlets were created by the same designer who handled all of West Quay’s marketing pieces, so they were similar in quality and image as those for the mall.

Tackling some of the city’s more physical challenges required an even bigger effort.

Southampton had the reputation of being difficult to access, and West Quay’s location along the city’s old waterfront warehouse district was not directly connected to its ferry ports and train stations, according to Peter Cole, Hammerson’s development director. Not only did this mean the building of a dedicated car off-ramp leading from a nearby highway directly to the center, but also included a free shuttle bus link from the city’s main stations, as well as an additional 4,000 parking spaces in a secure, modern downtown car park below the center.

In addition, the development and building team took careful consideration to cater to shoppers who use public transportation to access the center.

This includes the free shuttle buses; lockers located throughout the center in which shoppers can place their coats and shopping bags; and a dozen touch-screen computerized information stands with details of the area’s mass transit schedules.

These kiosks also contain data about the mall’s retailers, an interactive locator map, up-to-date job postings about employment availability at West Quay, and entertainment and event information for Southampton. The touch-screens, 12 in all, are a first for Hammerson, Cole said.

“While we were developing West Quay, e-commerce was emerging. We determined that what we needed was to capture technology back as a service to our tenants and our customers,” he said.

The customer-service kiosks are part of an in-mall intranet system that links each retailer to one another, as well as to the management office.

Operationally, this system is used to gather daily sales information, communicate management information to all of the retailers simultaneously, send out quick security alerts, and stay abreast of any job availability and staff changes, Cole said.

Other operational functions involved partnerships with the city, including the use of Southampton’s geothermal energy plant to cool and heat the center.

The centrally located environmentally friendly plant is the source of energy for many of the city’s buildings, and provides the mall with an efficient heating and cooling system, but does not take up any additional space in the downtown location, Cole said.

Hammerson is now focusing on two new urban developments, in the cities of Bournemouth and Bristol, England.

“Building a mall in a [downtown location] can be challenging, but we believe that customers want the excitement and vitality of a city center. With West Quay we’ve tried to weld together the mall and the city. The city enhances West Quay, and West Quay enhances the city.”

 

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