Demand for space in U.K. shopping centers rises in key regional submarkets

Demand for space in shopping centers has risen in four key regional submarkets in the United Kingdom, according to Savills.

The company’s U.K. national retail team has found Scotland, the Midlands, Wales and the North West of England have all seen an increase in active requirements in 2019 for shopping center premises. Scotland witnessed the largest growth, at 20 percent. Savills says its research demonstrates that retailers and leisure operators continue to see value in opening sites within U.K. shopping centers and are looking for new premises throughout the United Kingdom.

Savills also has discovered that requirements from leisure operators in the United Kingdom increased by 100 percent on 2018, with health and fitness and leisure now making up 18 percent of all active requirements, rising from 12.4 percent in 2018. The trend is particularly apparent in London, with the capital seeing 26 active leisure requirements, up 117 percent year-on-year.

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