Really interesting week setting out and talking through our tackling highstreet vacancy approach with two of the locations we’re supporting.
Two very different places in varying locations with a different scale of headline vacancy rate challenge but still we’re confident that the key elements of ‘audit, engage, encourage, promote’ will deliver for both.
Getting vacant units, some of them (in both places) large, long-empty and in less than best condition back into play, and improving the mix of uses…
For both town centres we’ve tabled these as important ‘next steps’:
+ setting up a positive, proactive tackling vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’ to work together on the issue;
+ “get the keys” and take a mixed public-private sector team into priority empty units to work out what new occupiers would fit there, what the barriers are, how they’re overcome and which of the partners needs step up to make that happen;
+ engage residents and existing businesses in conversation about what’s missing and what they’d like to see take on those units then go try recruit, together from that targets list;
+ explore the potential for ‘alternative’ / additional use types to move in: arts & crafts, creative, culture, community, history & heritage, leisure, education, health and health & wellbeing;
+ consider a town-wide, ‘place’-led, pop-up shop project.
There’s more, but those are all fundamental to the approach.
Looking forward to working with the local teams to help deploy the elements they see as priorities as we have with other places on our now 46-strong list of locations.
Four and a half years of The Vacant Shops Academy and nine before that working on this with town centres has given us 💯 belief that the method works…
We’d love to take it to more places with vacancy in the mid / high teens or over 20%. If that’s your town centre, do drop us a message…!
