Category Archives: News Centre

There’s a really striking #highstreet statistic in the latest update about Union Street, Aberdeen. 📉 It says that the headline vacancy number there which had empty units totalling in the mid-40s at the end of 2022 is now in the … Continue reading →

Could health & wellbeing be a new anchor for the #highstreet…? It’s one of our list of ‘alternative uses’ to add to #retail, #hospitality and services that we encourage #TheVacantShopsAcademy locations to target as part of their tackling vacancy ‘next … Continue reading →

Arts & crafts, creative, culture, community, leisure, education, health & wellbeing. 🔑 A list of ‘alternative uses’ that could occupy vacant #highstreet units alongside #retail, #hospitality, services and (hopefully more for upper floors) office or residential. All of them feature … Continue reading →

Three encouraging pieces of news this week from #highstreet locations we’re working with #TheVacantShopsAcademy. First from Aberdeen where the city council has “committed a further £500,000 to the Union Street Empty Shops Grant Scheme – bringing the total investment up … Continue reading →

Our approach to tackling #highstreet vacancy is to focus on each visibly empty unit in turn… 💷 Is the previous occupier in administration or still paying rent; 🪜 Is it a demolition or refurb project; 🎨 Could arts & crafts, … Continue reading →

💡 If you wander your #highstreet in the early evening dusk and stay on later, are there signs on your upper floors of office teams at work or of town or city centre living…? If not, is there un- and … Continue reading →

🔟 Maybe, to no-one’s great surprise, my starter for 10 would be on vacancy. If we’re only allowed 1, then one of these…? 🪜 Strengthen (and resource) powers to enforce and encourage funding schemes to help with minimum ‘fit to … Continue reading →

Some week that was… …and it’s why I love this job…! 💡 Three things, connected in a way and all of which taught us a lot. Tredegar is a #TheVacantShopsAcademy commission but a town centre where we’d thought our typical … Continue reading →

A new drive to breathe fresh life into the upper floors of Union Street buildings is being launched by Aberdeen Inspired to help the ongoing campaign to regenerate the Granite Mile.  The city centre Business Improvement District will commission a feasibility study to create … Continue reading →

“We are opening branches, not closing them.” 💡 A brilliant, insightful day at the building societies conference, and a great chance to present on the importance to our places of ‘banking services’, and the buildings they are and have been … Continue reading →