Social impact or environmental impact?

WHY DELIVERING ON A COMMON STRATEGY PRODUCES BETTER PLACES

CONNECTED DECISION MAKING

As cities have increased their focus and approaches to addressing climate change, the solutions presented have often focussed on the environment and emissions, with each resolving independently identified issues. More recently, however, some private enterprises, governments and not-for-profit organisations have started to identify and develop strategies that simultaneously address a range of environmental and social issues, and retail developments and landlords are playing their part too.

Food security, biodiversity, improving air quality and sustainable energy production are some of the topics being addressed within retail developments. Moving beyond sedum-covered rooftops and building on existing measures to improve public transport and cycling infrastructure, new strategies have adopted a broader, more connected vision delivered through collaborative and community-driven approaches.

The pandemic reminded everyone of the importance of greening urban spaces. Not only for the environment, but also as a means of delivering wellbeing for residents, workers, and visitors. In turn, they too have become more engaged and informed on the subject. This means that schemes must look beyond disconnected tree planting programmes and small floral displays to more sophisticated landscaping designs that also consider biodiversity.

It’s clear when such schemes fail to use a joined-up approach. The Marble Arch Mound, sited at the end of London’s Oxford Street, offers a cautionary tale of disconnected political decision-making. Costing around £6 million to build and a further £660,000 to dismantle, it was aimed at drawing shoppers back to the legendary street. Instead, it attracted broad criticism for being neither environmentally sustainable nor, through its originally planned ticket prices, offering any social benefit. That Westminster council, Conservative since its inception in 1965, is now controlled by Labour has, by some, been attributed to voters’ retaliation for the poor decision-making relating to the Mound.

BREATHING SPACES

Two examples of early proposals that have garnered better public responses can be found further north.

Firstly, in Stockton-on-Tees, the demolition of the Castlegate shopping centre, acquired through compulsory purchase (CPO) in February 2022, will make way for a new public park and waterfront development that will provide a link between the high street and River Tees. The scheme also includes measures to reduce vehicle numbers from an adjacent road,

as part of traffic calming measures, which should reduce local air pollution levels.

Secondly, in Nottingham, the former Broadmarsh Shopping Centre is set to follow a similar redevelopment. The site, and partially demolished shopping centre, were returned to Nottingham City Council in 2020 after the collapse of operator Intu. Following the abandonment of a series of schemes to construct new shopping centres on the site, the City Council invited Thomas Heatherwick to reimagine the space.

CGI: Broadmarsh Scheme, Nottingham

The focus of Heatherwick’s scheme is a new public square that will feature an oak sapling, transplanted from nearby Sherwood Forest, while the wider landscaping scheme proposes to include sections of the partially-demolished structure. The plan would support both the

Council’s Breathing Space policy—which aims to increase green space in the city for the physical and mental wellbeing of its residents—and their ambition to be the first among UK cities in the race to reach net zero.

Given the general need to consolidate retail footprints in town centres, neither shopping centre was viable as a retail place, but the question it raises is a relevant one: what do you do with the space to provide better value and bring people back?

Repurposing to alternative uses is a key consideration, but the solutions can also be more extreme because there still has to be demand for those uses¹. The key ingredient to these two schemes is the recognition of the need to take a step back to take a leap forward. These town centres, and others, need to better appeal to people to live, work, and play within them, but in the current state of decline why would they?

Public parks improve the quality of the environment and the social value of the space. In this post-pandemic world those two qualities have never been more important, particularly as so many lack access to private outdoor space, or they have become more accustomed to exploring their local neighbourhood spaces. Make places ‘nicer’ and the economic regeneration will happen.

CGI: Broadmarsh Scheme, Nottingham

PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Had retail locations not faced the well-documented challenges of the last five to ten years, would these schemes have been possible?

The fact that Stockton Council were only able to secure the land for the new waterfront park with a CPO suggests not. It seems only public agencies are able to address the changing high street with a scheme of this type, which places both social and environmental agendas ahead of commercial gain. It’s unlikely that a private landlord would have demolished their own income-generating building to make way for a new park that is less likely to create the same financial return.

Even so, these schemes can come at a high price for councils. For the first twelve months following its return to the city, the Broadmarsh site cost £980,000 in management and security charges. Not an insignificant fee for a council already facing severe budgetary challenges.

For those councils without the potential spaces or finances to create such transformations, smaller experimental schemes can deliver positive impacts—and be the start of more ambitious plans.

Mercato Metropolitano (MM) is one such development. Launched in 2017 and with four locations across London and a forthcoming branch in Ilford, MM is a sustainable community market where each site offers different food retailers and community engagement activities. The organisation is underpinned by a ten point manifesto that addresses issues of circular design, outlines their inclusive economic benefits, and supports well-being. All plastic is banned on their sites, including any that visitors might carry with them. While taking an ultra-strict approach to waste and plastics, they are equally focused on food insecurity— including the recent increases in the cost of food—and the miles travelled that—through their suppliers—their urban farming focus seeks to address.

While Nottingham hopes to be the first UK city to reach net zero, Copenhagen is hoping to be first among all cities globally. The Danish capital has included urban food production in its net zero strategy, and aims to provide locally grown, organic produce for all of the city’s thousands of kitchens, which serve 70,000 meals a week to nursery schools and nursing homes. The city also hope this project will help to improve and support the health of its citizens and reduce healthcare needs. And for those not fed by these kitchens, the city regularly publishes their plant-based recipes on their website. Although Scandinavian cities have an established reputation for high standards of wellbeing and liveability, and for combining innovative and experimental proposals with ambitious government policies, this is no longer their preserve.

Funan Mall, Singapore

Singapore is well known for the inclusion of planting in new developments, and generating some impressive design responses in the process, but with its high dependency on food imports the city has started to look at options for increasing its food production. By the end of the decade, the city state aims to have reduced its dependency on food imports from 90% to 70%. The recently redeveloped Funan Mall in the city’s Civic District has established a 5,000 sqft urban farm at roof level. Contributing to, rather than being the singular solution for, the issue of food insecurity, the garden is managed by Edible Garden City: a social enterprise that works in partnership with similar large developments and offer

educational workshops and food boxes, available to the wider community. Besides supplying produce to a rooftop restaurant, the space is open to shoppers and the wider public and forms part of their urban farming network.

Mercato Metropolitano, London

TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN

From urban farming to urban retrofit, each of these case studies offers a glimpse of the potential for retail developments to address environmental targets while offering social benefits when creating new or redeveloping existing spaces. As cities race to claim the ‘first to net-zero’ title, their approaches to resolving the complex series of challenges requires a multi-faceted and collaborative approach between different agencies and the community. While there are opportunities for investors to develop and deliver their ESG agenda through such schemes, it’s clear that governments at different levels play a pivotal role; both through policy development and through their own action.

Social and environmental improvements and their benefits are tightly interwoven into the future of our places, serving a common goal. Being green is of course important, but community engagement and loyalty is what makes a place—and social improvements with a green edge will have the strongest results. As such, both need to be implemented through a common strategy, whether in local neighbourhoods, in shopping schemes, or in town centres—and with a joined-up approach between public and private stakeholders.

¹www.savills.com/reimaginingretail

“Social and environmental improvements and their benefits are tightly interwoven into the future of our places, serving a common goal, and both need to be implemented through a common strategy.”