City Centre Real Estate Markets: Changing Retail Practice and Adaptation, 2020-2021

The Real Estate Adaptation and Innovation within an integrated Retailing system (REPAIR) project, conducted at the University of Glasgow and University of Sheffield, investigated the changes experienced across the retail cores of five UK cities Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Liverpool and Nottingham between 2000 and 2021. The project examined different aspects of the property market and built environment across four separate work streams. The primary data stored here relates to Work Package C and was collected via semi-structured interviews with landlords and property professional practitioners managing assets and/or providing other property services to investors. The interviews investigate the implications of the structural changes experienced in recent years in city centre retail markets for owners, investors and developers. The findings explore the issues around redundant and vacant properties, and how investment behaviours and property market practices are adapting. The later interviews also capture the effects of the pandemic on retailing centres.