It’s a bloodbath on the high street. This year has already seen Maplin, Toys R Us and House of Fraser collapse into administration, while the likes of Debenhams, Marks & Spencer and Mothercare have all announced big store closure programmes as profits tumble.

Traditional retailers are being hit by a perfect storm of fragile consumer confidence, big business rates rises and the accelerating shift to online consumption, with shoppers ever harder to prise from their sofas. 

It should be no surprise this is having an impact on construction: Hammerson earlier this year took the decision to “defer” by at least six months its £1.4bn redevelopment of the Brent Cross shopping centre, while rumours of delay surround its similar-sized joint venture with Westfield in Croydon. With some declaring the age of the big shopping centre over, the annual volume of retail construction output has fallen by £1.1bn in three years, to £4.8bn in the 12 months to June this year, according to Office for National Statistics figures. That’s a drop of almost a quarter, once you take inflation into account.

“Retailers are taking stock. a lot of developers are in pause mode”

Daniel Hunt, Aecom

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