Help your town or city centre prepare for the future: a bespoke programme that gives you and your stakeholders access to the Institute's experts and research evidence.
It is now widely recognised that high streets face a considerable challenge. For some in the media, the ‘death of the high street' is inevitable but we disagree and believe that there is a viable future for town and city centres, but only if they take action and act on the evidence now available.
The Institute of Place Management brings unique knowledge and insight based on years of research and work with town and city centres. Our research has influenced the launch of the UK Government's £675 million Future High Street Fund, but whether in preparation for this or because you wish to do something about your town or city centre, we offer a programme that can assist.
Across Europe, town and city centres have seen an erosion of their share of retail expenditure as first out of town retailing and now online retailing gave options to shoppers. In the UK, town and city centres attracted around 50% of retail expenditure in 2000 but according to the Centre for Retail Research, it is today less than 37%. Online retailing in the UK now accounts for about 18% of all retail expenditure and on some forecasts will reach 30% in ten years time. This changing structure of retail is one of the reasons behind store rationalisation and closure that is seeing high streets lose many of their multiple retailers and store vacancies rise. All the data suggests these trends will continue.
Structural change in other sectors is also impacting town and city centres. Whilst the number of pubs reduces, coffee bars still increase. New leisure and fitness activities are being located in town and city centres, alongside flexible working space. As the population grows, there is greater demand for homes and especially for smaller homes. Lifestyles are changing as well, and most town and city centres have moved on from just a 9-5 existence and over the next decade, we will see a revolution in our usage of cars.
As town and city centres have changed, many places have sought to respond. Town and City Centre Management, Town Teams, local partnerships and Business Improvement Districts have been widely established and there are many success stories, but the scale of change remains challenging and many locations are underperforming or at risk of failure. How can you determine what is best done in your centre?
Over the past four years, we have led two major research studies on town and city centres in the UK. This included a review of the factors that influence town and city centre vitality and viability and the use of activity data to identify four UK town types. Our research has been undertaken in partnership with a number of UK towns and cities and has been designed to provide evidence-based practical support to individual locations. As part of the research, we have identified approaches that can benefit town and city centres as they seek to secure the vitality and viability of their centre. We have also run workshops in towns for the UK Government looking at the high street in 2030.
We work exclusively with our members to support their work in town and city centres through the 3 Step Vitality and Viability Programme which is centred around a half-day workshop. We have now run these in some 15 town and city centres and they have proved to be highly participative, engaging and successful in developing consensus in regards to actions and the way forward. The workshops are designed to inculcate an evidence-based collaborative approach in the centre.
In the initial phases of the vital and viable programme, we hold a meeting with place leaders involved in the everyday management of the centre to understand the place management and governance structures. In addition, we ask the individuals to fill out an online survey highlighting the main challenges are in their centre, providing valuable data as a starting point for the project.
We undertake a review of the evidence about your town centre performance and an assessment of the town centre, using the High Street UK 2020 research as a framework for analysis. This review is based upon a) evidence, reports, strategies etc. you send us; b) additional, relevant, information we can find in the public domain and, c) a half-day site visit. This will take place in the fortnight before the workshop and feed information to support the workshop.
You invite stakeholders to attend a half-day workshop in a central location, and we provide the expert team. The workshop will cover:
• An up to date review of what is happening to town and city centres
• The 25 local priority factors for vitality and viability (plus access to 176 others)
• 4 town types and what this means for local initiatives
• The 4 Rs of Regeneration – an introduction to the core concepts of centre regeneration
• What is happening in your centre
• Planning for the future – identifying priorities
• Restructuring – exploring new partnership structures
We prepare a short tailored report offering advice, information and recommendations for action. These recommendations are divided into ‘quick wins’ and longer-term priorities. The idea is that once signed off, the report is widely shared and adopted across the partnership, allowing different stakeholders to contribute to action.
The Vitality and Viability Programme is delivered by the Institute of Place Management staff who were each directly involved in our town and city centre research programmes and who are experienced in working with town and city centre stakeholders.
The vital and viable programme will be carried out by two or more of the IPM team:
Professor Cathy Parker is Co-Chair of the Institute and Professor of Retail and Marketing Enterprise at Manchester Metropolitan University. She was the lead investigator on High Street UK 2020 and lead researcher on Bringing Big Data to Small Users project. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Place Management and Development, a recognised authority on retail in town and city centres and is widely published.
Dr Steve Millington is the Director of Place-Making at the Institute and a Reader in Place Management at Manchester Metropolitan University. He was co-investigator on the High Street UK 2020 and the Bringing Big Data to Small Users research programmes and has worked extensively with individual town and city centres. He leads our Vital and Viable Neighbourhoods work.
Ben Stephenson is a Fellow of the institute and has been involved in place development for 15 years. He is former CEO of We Are Waterloo Business Improvement District, has developed a Neighbourhood Plan, and extensive experience of working to develop regeneration strategies.
Dr Chloe Steadman is a research associate at the Institute of Place Management and Lecturer in Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan. She completed her PhD in Consumer Research at the University of Manchester in 2017 and has an interest in the intersections between people and places.
The Vitality and Viability Programme is available exclusively to members of the Institute of Place Management or The BID Foundation. It is possible to put together a bespoke programme based on a selection of the steps above, with costs varying based on the agreed package. Travel and subsistence are charged in addition to the programme cost.
We also offer a 'vital and viable neighbourhoods' programme, which is a more extensive project where we carry out workshops and research in a number of districts centres based within a region or borough. Click here to learn more about of vital and viable neighbourhoods project in Manchester.
The local host will be responsible for the provision of a room suitable for small group work and presentations, projection equipment and refreshments for those attending. You will also be responsible for identifying and inviting the stakeholders (typically 20 -50) but we will provide advice if required on this.
If you are interested in booking a date, please get in touch