Broken windows, graffiti, old signage, patchy hoardings, peeling paint, crumbling roof, bushes growing out of gutters and so on.
What do the empty units in your town or city centre look like…?
Do they look a state…?
Or…
Has the landlord or agent made them look the best they can be while work continues to get them let.
Has the place – the council or BID maybe – taken the initiative and sorted some vinyls or other options to improve things.
Perhaps, as our friends in Aberdeen are doing (and we feature in the image above), a community volunteers group led by Our Union Street is out regularly with brushes and paint and cleaning to spruce them up.
It maybe seems a minor part of the tackling highstreet vacancy process but it’s important and makes a difference.
There are enough downsides to empty units for the place. If they’re in a poor way it’s worse…
- They add to a negative perception among residents;
- Dismay visitors;
- Attract ASB;
- Provoke negative media stories;
- Increase the risk of your place featuring in a national ‘worst for empty shops’ list;
- Make things harder for existing businesses, increasing the chance that
they’ll leave also; - Discourage inward investment by would-be new occupiers.
So let’s draw a line. Commit as places to doing what we can to make empty units looking bad a thing of the past.
Yes there’s a cost. It’s also true that we say to local teams we’re working with on tackling vacancy that getting the empty units back in play is a priority, but as colleagues who’ve done it will tell you, this helps.
It’d be great to hear what your town or city centre is doing on this…
