The Vacant Shops Academy

We know how positive an effect a new health services ‘community diagnostic centre’ (CDC), college or university campus and an arts & crafts makers collective store can have on town and city centres…

…so how do we go about getting more…?

It’d be great to hear from place leaders and managers that have one or more of those in their location, and what the pluses are.

These are just some of what we call the ‘alternative’ or additional use types we’re suggesting that the local teams working on tackling highstreet vacancy explore as potential go-to options to take on empty units.

The full list is: arts & crafts, creative, culture, community, history & heritage, leisure, education, health and health & wellbeing. It’s been suggested a few times that we add ‘sustainability’ to create an easy category to include various types of business and organisation with this as their focus.

Encouragingly we’re seeing more and more examples, including some taking on bigger units like former department stores.

Grimsby is one we’ve seen to have a town centre CDC open, with Southend doing similar. Gloucester has its new University Campus in the former city centre Debenhams. And there are so many different examples of arts & crafts makers collectives we’ve written one of our guides & briefing notes series to draw them together.

Two things to add…

One is we’d argue, based on experience from the 46 locations we’re working with, that this option backs up the case for having a ‘place partnership’ on the case because identifying and then securing these use types can be more challenging than getting in retail, hospitality & services occupiers.

The other is a question. Can these uses – either with a large single occupier or a cluster on one theme – take on the town centre anchor status that only large retailers used to have…?

It’d be interesting as ever to hear your thoughts…

More than half of visibly vacant highstreet units have no agent involved in trying to get them back into use.

It’s a stat that raises eyebrows every time we mention it and is one we table as a challenge for the local tackling vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’ teams we’re working with.

It comes from a tally we’re keeping of the agent / no agent status of all the vacant units we see in commission locations. That’s now past the 1,000 empty units in total milestone.

And remember the circa 50% figure is an average across 46 places which means some will have even higher rates. In the most recent town we ran our ‘audit’, two thirds of the empty units looked to have no agent instructed. Two in every three.

That likely means no professional specialists working away to find new occupiers, no details online or on lettings boards at the unit to guide would-be occupiers to the information they need, and so surely a reduced chance of being let.

It’d be really interesting to know what the ‘agent / no agent’ percentage is in your place…?

It’s a really good time if you’re a council or BID team to be putting maximum effort into helping get empty units back in use.

We’re now at the half way point in the 2026 lettings season which will often build into its second half with many retail and hospitality brands targeting a pre-Christmas opening.

I realise as I write this – especially as the temps are in the 30s – that the previous line might prompt some groans around my timing of that Xmas mention, but bear with me…

At the heart of our approach to tackling highstreet vacancy is a belief that by getting a positive, proactive ‘place partnership’ in play you can aim to halve your headline vacancy rate in 18 months…

…and it’s super encouraging to have had so many conversations with officers we’re working with in some of the 46 The Vacant Shops Academy commission locations, that shows they’re on the case.

So just this week (and bearing in mind we’re focused on just one of the many place priorities), we’ve…

• shared a leading practitioner briefing on High Street Rental Auctions;
• highlighted ‘promoting empty units as an opportunity’ case studies;
• exchanged bringing un- and under-used upper floors back into play insights;
• explored ‘next steps’ on taking our “get the keys” initiative to another town;
• pointed to resources on community-led approaches to asset management and running resident & existing businesses consultations;
• emphasised why we see education and health as such strong go-to options for filling empty units, with examples to illustrate;
• talked through top tips on place-focused pop-up shop projects from our new guide and toolkit on that high profile and popular route to getting units back underway quickly.

It’s so heartening to see town and city centre teams on the tackling vacancy case, and making an impact. If your place is keen to join them, please give us a shout…!

How many of your town or city centres have empty units that have been like that for ten years or more…?

Are you on the road to getting them used again…?

I was lucky as part of a visit to Bath for a catch up with the council’s regen and BID teams, to take a quick trip to the town of Keynsham and look in on just such a project…

“After 18 months of working on this project, we started with 1000sqm of ground floor commercial space on Temple Street in Keynsham that had been vacant for over 10 years.

“These have now been transformed into beautiful high quality spaces for new tenants including a Dance school, Pilates Studio and Play Cafe.

“We finally reached completion after a 6-month construction phase and the spaces look amazing!

“Now down to the tenants to turn these units into even more beautiful community spaces…!”

For sure, based on our tackling highstreet vacancy work with now 46 locations, we know that there can be lots of factors contributing to units being long-empty, and different barriers to overcome in getting them back in play.

It’d be great to hear other examples from place leaders and managers of very long-empty units where you are being re-purposed and re-let…

One of the (many) joys of this job is getting to spend time with the really good people working hard and together to make their places the best they can be.

And so to the city of Bath to spend an insightful day with members of the council’s regen team, its BID and two of the creative leaders behind an imaginative retail approach that could, hopefully, be taken to more places soon.

If I’d strolled the centre that sunny summers day on my own I would have enjoyed the awesome set of heritage buildings, the stunning river scene with its famous bridge and weir, the strong national brand retail and hospitality group and range of independents and all the neat placemaking touches that may seem minor but contribute much to the whole.

But I was lucky instead to do that walk-see in company and so draw on local experience and understanding.

Our focus was on three major projects:

• The ground-breaking planned new fashion museum;
• The upcoming return for the city’s historic department store as a fashion, beauty, home and lifestyle brands destination;
• SOMER – a sustainable fashion store, immersive learning environment and community space by Bath Spa University.

…but the conversation drew on much more of the work that’s needed behind the scenes to bring sometimes long-empty and difficult buildings back into use, how to maintain an offer that delivers both for a resident community and sizeable visitor numbers, and – especially interesting from my tackling highstreet vacancy perspective – how some of the brands have fitted in here, including adjusting their shopfront signage model to accommodate conservation values and made what might look like non-ideal building frontages work for them so they can take one of the limited empty unit options in this much-desired location.

“Ah but it’s Bath”, you might say. “Not many places like that who could usefully learn from it.”

And I’ll be disagreeing. Take an opportunity to listen in as I did to the back story of these projects: making yesterday’s stories work today, repurposing your large heritage buildings, creating an offer that suits those dual audiences, introducing and securing buy in to the many small placemaking features that make this place look the best it can be, and so on…

Lots to like. Plenty to share. Much that’s transferable. Definitely worth you being in touch.

Really enjoyable and heartening first visit to our latest tackling highstreet vacancy commission…

Kirkcaldy is our 46th location for The Vacant Shops Academy and we’ve now made a start on the ‘audit, engage’ stage by mapping empty town centre units – the first step towards understanding their backstory, building a clear picture of the vacancy situation and agreeing how to move forward.

There’s lots to like in a town with a civic & cultural ‘quarter’ and its heritage buildings that greet you along the walk from the railway station, the High Street itself and, as you emerge beyond that, onto the waterfront and harbour-side.

Especially encouraging was the chance on this trip to be part of the regular meeting of Kirkcaldy Property Network.

You’ll know how strongly we believe in having a positive, proactive, ‘place partnership’ to lead locally on efforts to reduce the number of empty units and improve the mix of uses. It’ll be particularly important here given the fact there’s a number of very large former brand retail store units among the vacant set.

Already a few months in with relationships between different members building, it was great to see the levels of interest in the challenge around the network, and the enthusiasm for playing a part in what follows as well as the extensive skills, experience and connections in the room.

Our ‘audit’ will put some exact numbers on the challenge, and no one here has any doubts there’s much to do, but there seems to be a confidence which I 💯 share that it’s do-able.

It’d be good to hear from other town and city centres how working together is helping tackling your vacancy issue…!

• Our image is of the stunning artwork on Kirkcaldy High Street by Scottish mural artist & designer Kerry Wilson.

“You could aim to halve your headline highstreet vacancy rate in 18 months. Some places will go further, faster.”

If you’re a council or BID team thinking to start the tackling vacancy journey or could use help on tricky challenges you’ve encountered if you’ve started already, do drop me a message…!

That “halving” headline is something I’ve said here before, but it feels very well worth repeating, especially after a week of really encouraging conversations with local tackling vacancy teams, some a way into the journey, others taking first steps.

Why…?

• partly because of the difference reducing the number of empty units you have and improving your mix of uses makes to the vibrancy and vitality of a place…
• …the positive impact that has on existing businesses who benefit when there are new reasons to draw people in, extra footfall, extending dwelling time;
• …and our experience that lettings encourage others to consider investing there too, so creating a momentum that builds;
• it can also help deliver on core national policy objectives: strengthening growth, increasing employment (especially among younger people) and boosting ‘pride in place’.

But it’s more than about the numbers. Our ‘place partnership’ approach is also about exploring ‘alternative’ / additional uses to take on empty spaces alongside retail, hospitality and services to add variety and the ‘experiential’ that’s such a big part of current conversation.

The other key feature is the emphasis on working together. Not just leaving this to agents and landlords but engaging and involving businesses, community, cultural organisations, council(s), chamber, BID if you have one and others identified locally, to take take up the challenge, together.

We know it works. Very different places in changed circumstances ten years apart have done it, others in between took teens vacancy rates into single figures, towns we’re working with now are on that journey too.

If we can inspire more places to join them, it’ll make a huge difference and we will, finally, get the long-stuck national headline vacancy rate into single figures too.

What do you think…?

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…

If you were allowed just one word to describe your town or city centre, what would it be…?

Do please let me know yours.

It’s not easy, huh…?

The challenge wasn’t my idea and it’s not one I’d come across before until what was an insightful, enjoyable, encouraging meeting in Cinderford to share thoughts about the town as it is and priorities moving forward.

The question set me thinking about some of the other locations we’re working with local teams on tackling highstreet vacancy, what word we’d get to for them and more importantly the words ‘place partnership’ members there would list.

A really interesting extra talking point to emerge from the meeting was what suggestions might you get if the question was asked of residents and business owners on local social media platforms.

Similarly if you did a visitor survey of people in your town or city centre for the day or overnight, what single word would they use to describe it.

Now you might think that placemaking is far too complex a subject for these answers to be much, if any, use but having experienced it here and reflecting on the 20+ one words that emerged, I do think it’s interesting.

Over to you…