Category Archives: News Centre

“Get the keys. Go take a look inside, as a team.” It’s an answer I gave when asked this week by a group of place leaders and managers about two large, long-time empty units in their town centre. The idea … Continue reading →

Castle walls, heritage buildings, historic figures remembered, striking views. How much do any or all of those play a part in your tackling #highstreet vacancy project…? It’d be great to hear examples from your town or city centre. Those four … Continue reading →

Let’s not allow any empty units we have in our town or city centres to dominate the narrative. Places where vacancy is an issue often find that’s the talk of local social media rather than the great businesses and organisations … Continue reading →

If your town or city centre is changing significantly and quickly, it makes a big difference to your approach to tackling vacancy. It’s one of a range of reasons we ought to be very cautious about publishing league tables of … Continue reading →

Busy and exciting start to August ahead…! Really looking forward to taking our ‘audit, engage, encourage, promote’ approach to tackling #highstreet vacancy into three new locations. We start this week working with the town centres team at Carmarthenshire County Council … Continue reading →

Our town and city centres need more green spaces just so we can sit and rest a while. It’d be great to hear from #placemaking colleagues on here about favourite examples where you live or work. I mean a quiet … Continue reading →

Tackling vacancy in your town or city centre might be like getting a former department store, now-empty big brand shop or ex-bank back in use… …the answer may be splitting it up. It’s an approach we’ve turned to in a … Continue reading →

How often are you in a town or city centre and see an empty unit (or more) looking terrible…? Mishmash of rough looking boarding, broken glass, windows whitewashed or part covered in flyers on the outer or peeling brown paper … Continue reading →

Encouraging update this week from one of the early adopters for the new High Street Rental Auctions power for local councils. I get that not everyone is a fan and that #property colleagues in particular have been critical (on a … Continue reading →