WHAT’S IN STORE FOR CITY CENTRE? FOR CITY CENTRE?
Stylish house with its own social media following goes on the market
DEBENHAMS, Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Burton, Oasis, Warehouse. All gone. Big names that won’t re-open in Wales next month. But that’s the tip of the iceberg.
The pandemic hasn’t just accelerated the decline of the high street, it is going to fundamentally change how our cities look, who lives in them and even what purpose they serve. And while the full economic impact of coronavirus may not be fully understood for years, cities are already evolving.
Architects, city planners and retail experts we’ve spoken to have explained how:
■ There will be a shift from places to work and shop to places to live and socialise.
■ Big brands and window shopping will disappear.
■ High-rise offices will become more residential.
■ City centres and high streets will focus on leisure and entertainment.
■ There will be more focus on culture and learning.
■ There will be more green spaces, trees and open spaces.
■ There will be less traffic and more cycle-friendly infrastructure.
In one Welsh city the contrast between decline and regeneration is stark.
Walk down Swansea’s Oxford Street and you are met with a bleak reality of empty units, a smattering of pound shops, mobile phone shops, charity shops and vape shops. The glory days of British Home Stores (BHS), Littlewoods and Woolworths a distant memory.
There is still a Next and an M&S, though there are bigger versions on retail parks closer to the M4.
In the past few months The Quadrant shopping centre has lost Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Clarks and Animal. It remains to be seen how much longer the likes of HMV can survive in 2021.
Laura James, a manager of retail growth at University of Wales Trinity Saint David says those who survive will be the ones that adapt.
“Inevitably there is going to be a change to our city centres and in order to look forward at how it’s going to look we have to look at what has happened during the pandemic and how we have changed as consumers.
“We will definitely see a shift in consumer behaviour and how they shop and how they want to shop. The high street will do well by recognising that and being able to offer a multi-faceted experience.”
Dan Wagner, chairman and CEO of retail technology specialist Rezolve, added: “We are a time-sensitive economy now where nobody has time or wanders around aimlessly looking for stuff. People just want immediacy. We have all got used to a very different way of living and it has accelerated change in retail that was a long time coming.”
Wez Morgan, principal director for architectural practice Starki Limited, said that while we will “certainly” see more empty units when we return to city centres, it may allow smaller businesses to make their mark.
“We’ll most certainly return initially to a centre with more vacant units with those that are open trading at a lower capacity than in 2019,” he said.
“Smaller units may be more attractive to independent businesses hoping to gain their first taste of street presence, but these need to come with the right terms and at the right cost – we want businesses that will make a mark in our cities and grow organically.”
With fewer big brands based in the city centre the high street is expected to become more focused around leisure, with less emphasis on hitting the shops and more on socialising and entertainment.
Dr Richard Smith, an expert on global cities and associate professor in the department of geography at Swansea University, explained that the city looks set to become more of a leisure and lifestyle destination.
“With the pandemic accelerating the closure of popular chain retailers in Swansea, the city centre will become proportionately less dominated by shopping and will become more multipurpose – a place for socialising, entertainment, student living, learning and culture too,” he said.
In fact those who have not been to Swansea in the past year may well be shocked to discover how much the city has changed.
Work on an indoor arena on Oystermouth Road has taken place at speed. Scheduled to open later this year, the building is the major landmark attraction of the newly-developed Swansea Central development site Copr Bay.
Wider plans will include restaurants, city centre apartments, an acre of parkland, and a pedestrian bridge offering easier access between the city and the beach. Elsewhere, Wind Street, home of bars, clubs and Swansea’s nightlife is receiving a £3m investment with the aim of making it a family-friendly cafe quarter by day.
Green landscaped new entrances will be created for the street, which will also become a flexible space for events.
A major facelift of Castle Square, in the heart of the city centre, will also create more green space along with places to eat and drink.
A stone’s throw away, a public square, cycle parking and landscaping is planned at St David’s Church.
“Town centres will look different but they will be more community based where retail will thread through Welsh communities,” Laura James added.
“I think there will be a new dawn of retail where a new hybrid town centre is going to start emerging. There will be hybrid cafes, retail stores that are offering a mix of online, click and collect and physical contact as well.
“I think we will still see big names on the high street. Primark, for example, doesn’t have an online offering so going in there is a shopping experience. I think we need to have those alongside the independent retailers to build that hybrid town centre.
“I still think there will be that need for coffee shops. They are a social aspect of our lives and there are a lot of people looking forward to meeting friends for a coffee and cake again.
“If our town centres are going to be made into social hubs then they could even draw in more people than before the pandemic.
“Making them more accessible where you can work and socialise will be attracting a different type of clientele by diversifying who the customer base is.”
Mr Wagner shares a similar vision and believes that city centres will have to “encourage people to congregate in leisure scenarios” in order to boost footfall.
He added: “Retail and food and drink need to think about tapping into that impulse. Coffee shops and cafes have the potential to drive traffic to them.
“I think city centres are going to need to encourage people to congregate in leisure scenarios.
“I think city centres will be more leisure destinations. The shops need to build around the congregation.
“We will still go to shops but there also needs to be a strong cause for return engagement.”
With more people potentially still working from home in the future, we may even start to see a shift in the types of buildings we walk past when we do venture into the city centre.
Offices may become few and far between, but city centre living will be on the rise.
Dr Smith explained: “Employees in sectors which can function with some home-working from staff will demand more of it – perhaps one or two days a week – resulting in less commuting and fewer people in the city centre on a daily basis than would otherwise be the case.
“There will be an increased trend towards shared offices and flexible work spaces for collaborative working in the city centre as firms seek to avoid the costs of traditional singleuse permanent offices.”
Huw Griffiths, director of Swansea based Huw Griffiths Architects, agreed that our office buildings will be changing in the future with them becoming more “informal and flexible”.
He said: “It’s not as if office space will disappear, but it will change.
“People will be spending more time working from home, but they will also crave human contact and bouncing ideas off each other.
“There are changes in the office environment. It doesn’t mean there will be a demise in offices, but they will be more informal and flexible.”
Mr Griffiths explained that a rise in city centre living would suit a variety of people, including those living alone, as well as elderly people.
“The buildings in our city centres are already changing from being completely commercial into a combination of commercial and residential,” he added.
“All city centres now have more flats and residential properties than ever before. This is an attempt to increase the footfall of people living and working in the city centres because after hours they are sparsely populated.
“There are requirements for us to get people to live back in town centres, which suits single people, elderly people and you don’t necessarily need a car, as most of our city centres are well serviced with buses and train routes.”
Mr Morgan said office buildings could either be put to “better use or become redundant” if certain businesses choose to continue working from home, while he believes that city centre living will help to “grow the city” in the future.
He added: “With building projects introducing residential living to the centre in Swansea, we may see a change to the dynamic of our city.
“In terms of city living, I think this will grow the city as new student and residential property becomes occupied.”
More people are expected to move out of our cities though.
Dr Smith said: “The pandemic has encouraged people to value homes with gardens in neighbourhoods with low population densities.
“There is likely to be increased suburbanisation, counter-urbanisation, and seafront living in Swansea as the city centre and living in apartments becomes desirable for fewer people than it might have before the pandemic.
“The redevelopment plans for Swansea city centre rely on people wanting to live in the city centre; a worrying consequence of the pandemic for those planning and investing in the redevelopment of Swansea city centre is that people may now choose to live elsewhere where they can have gardens and fewer neighbours.”
With green spaces planned for a number of locations, including Castle Square, Wind Street and St David’s, there’s even a “big opportunity” for greener roofs in Swansea city centre.
“I think people would like to see greener town centres and more soft landscaping in our city centre streets,” Mr Griffiths added.
“There’s been a big reduction in traffic, and I think it will continue to reduce.
“There’s a big opportunity with flat roofs in the city centre which could be turned into gardens for growing food. A lot of the roofs in the city centre are flat, and they could be put to better use.”
Swansea council leader Rob Stewart explained that the council has been working to “improve the leisure offer” across the city and said that the new arena will be a “catalyst” for other transformations throughout the city centre.
He said: “We recognised long before the pandemic began that the nature of city centres is changing and we had to improve the leisure offer in Swansea as well as making it a more attractive place to live, work, visit and do business.
“The new digital arena will attract new retail, hospitality and leisure businesses to Swansea.
“It will be a catalyst for the major transformation of other key city centre sites.”
Mr Stewart added: “We are planting hundreds of new trees, we are creating many more green spaces and we will continue to develop cycle paths and invest in public transport to make it easier to visit without the car.”
Russell Greenslade, chief executive of Swansea BID (Business Improvement District), said: “We all know our city centres and high streets are changing and it is clear that Swansea is embracing this inevitable change in a very positive way.
“We have never seen a more ambitious regeneration programme in our city centre, and this is something we should all be proud of, optimistic about and we should get behind.”
Mr Greenslade said people will want to use city centres as community hubs in years to come.
“Some very eye-catching student accommodation is being unveiled as we speak, our new arena is taking shape.
“We are not clinging to the old model of the high street – we are embracing the future and the opportunities it brings, as we see consumers continue to expect to use their city centres as community hubs and as places to live and to spend their recreational time rather than simply to make a fleeting visit to its shops.”
WHEN it comes to expressing yourself through the interiors in your home, or finding the courage to try a new style, the owners of a super stylish Victorian terrace in the trendy suburb of Pontcanna in Cardiff have some advice for you.
Alec Taylor says: “Don’t be afraid to go bold, even dark, in your choice of design! And think about the character of the property, the space and natural light, and work with that.”
When Alec and his wife Robin first viewed the period terraced house, they instantly felt a wonderful and calm feeling inside it and that it had been lovingly lived-in over the generations; the house gave them a warm hug.
The couple were also relieved to discover that the house had been well-looked after too.
Alec remembers that the house was in overall great condition, no renovation was required, but decorated in mostly various shades of magnolia; he and Robin were keen to eventually update every room, even though they needed to keep control of the makeover budget.
Alec says: “We were very excited, as this was our first home where we felt we could express ourselves.”
And so over three years ago the couple’s design adventure began that led to the house being featured on television as one of the best homes in Cardiff.
The eclectic, maximalist and whimsical interior design style that Alec and Robin love has meant that as well as items sourced from the extended family, the couple could rummage online to discover more quality second-hand items.
The couple love an eclectic mix of old and new, and wanted their home’s interior to feel like it was collected and put together over time, rather than selected out of a page of a catalogue or a showroom.
Throughout the home, a visitor will spot furniture items ranging from mid-century modern, to Victorian and Edwardian.
But the spaces inside this period home also have a touch of whimsy that bring in the playful and add to the many personal items that mean a great deal to the couple.
Once the couple started transforming the house into a home full of their style, they couldn’t stop, and tackled every space.
The couple’s favourite aspect of the interior design of the house is the show-stopping front living room.
Alec says: “We love this room, with its enveloping botanical pattern and dark green colour.
“Though it is a modern House of Hackney print, a botanical print would have likely been used roughly around the era the house was built, and evokes that Victorian obsession with botany and natural history.”
The couple were even brave enough to let their lovely home appear on the BBC TV’s interior design programme Best House in Town.
Alec says: “Seeing our home on national television was great! Quite strange to film, and Robin felt really shy to be on camera, but we got a lot of really good feedback about our home and its style.
“And it kept the pressure on us to keep it sparkling clean!”
But it’s on Instagram where the couple’s gorgeous interiors have really captured the public’s imagination: “Our house has its own Instagram account and started attracting thousands of followers from all over the UK and even beyond. Much more popular than our own social networks combined!” said Robin.
Throughout the makeover, the couple did as much of the work as they possibly could: painting and papering in most rooms, adding dado rails, ripping up carpets.
Alec says: “But we learned that sometimes it really is best to bring in the experts, for example with floor sanding. They have better equipment than you can rent, and know how to achieve a high quality finish.
“Victorian houses are never straightforward, and rarely in straight lines, but will reward your efforts to bring them back to life.
“There were moments of worry throughout the makeovers, as we’re not skilled DIY-ers. But our marriage is still intact, and that has to count for something!”
■ The house with more online followers than the owners is for sale for £600,000 with estate agent Hern & Crabtree, call their Pontcanna branch on 029 2022 8135 to find out more.