Effective public realm intervention can dramatically improve human wellbeing and real estate values, as well as support long-term resilience. This is one of the key findings from a study released by global real estate advisor CBRE together with Gehl Architects, which cites Liverpool One, the c. £900m private-led redevelopment project, as one of the outstanding success stories for shaping public spaces.
The study reviewed 11 placemaking initiatives in the UK, Australia, USA, Italy, Denmark, Germany, France and South Korea all of which have a specific public realm intervention at their core. Gehl assessed the way in which public spaces contribute to the human experience of urban areas, whilst CBRE examined the commercial effect from a demand and supply and real estate values perspective before and after the public realm intervention has taken place.
The study indicated that creativity and investment can improve the public realm in such a way that the human experience of a place is materially enhanced. By focusing on this aspect, and assuming effective infrastructure, public realm initiatives create greater desire to visit, an increase in dwell time, more expenditure and in turn greater demand amongst visitors, workers, shoppers, and residents to locate there permanently. In this way, public realm improvements have a very positive impact on commercial real estate values.
In Liverpool, the Liverpool One redevelopment was named as one of the laudable initiatives alongside key sites such as London Granary Square, King’s Cross and Duke of York Square. Liverpool One transformed a 42 acre site of retail space, vacant buildings and a car park into a successful and thriving shopping centre boasting 200 shops, more than 500 apartments, two hotels, 26 restaurants, a 14-screen Odeon cinema, 4 office buildings, a revitalised 5 acre public park and a public transport interchange.
The Centre is outstandingly successful with a low vacancy rate and continuously rising footfall and its substantial improvement in the human experience has paved the way for high end brands such as Apple and Harvey Nichols to locate there. Retail rents have increased by 17.5% compared to a 7.4% decline in Liverpool as a whole since 2008.
The global study demonstrates the importance of creative placemaking. For planners, it means facilitating design towards enhancing the human experience. This means maintaining any good-quality public space that exists through innovative measures keeping up with new trends, and embarking on a quest to make more of it available. It also means that proposed new developments should be judged on their ability to enhance public life.
For developers and investors, value resilience depends on the success of the place. Not all developments will have the ability to create an outdoor public realm that is free to use, but some will. Where opportunity exists, with the ability to enhance the brand of a building and location, should be taken. Where it is not available, there should be a clear contribution to the public realm that exists.
For occupiers, who are concerned with recruiting and retaining increasingly scarce talent, proximity to great public spaces is important. The boundaries between work and leisure time are ever more blurred, so the walls of the workplace become ever more permeable. The public realm and the work-anywhere culture are inextricably linked.
Neil Kirkham, Director, CBRE’s Office Agency team in Liverpool commented:
“The concept of Placemaking has increased rapidly over the past decade and is now very much at the forefront of everyone’s thinking. From the office occupiers perspective, Placemaking is paramount as they endeavor to identify and secure the right environment with all the key ingredients to attract the best quality employees to the City and in turn to their businesses.”
“To attract the best talent pool, employers need to be confident they have excellent amenities in close proximity for their staff to enjoy – with the blurring of work-life patterns, people want to be in cool places they are happy to migrate to and work in, they want to break away from work time; linger after work; eat, drink and access cultural activities easily and the evolution of public spaces into ‘community spaces’ provides this. The added benefit to employers is this enhanced wellbeing leads to higher staff productivity.
“Before the Liverpool One redevelopment, the City had the neglected and run down Chavasse Park – at that point Liverpool was placed around 15 in retail ranking scales and has now risen to number 5 since the completion and success of Liverpool One, which is a huge achievement for the City and the region as a whole.
“Liverpool One has been transformational by not only delivering a very high quality retail offer and enhanced shopping environment, but also in the way it has reconnected the Historic CBD and retail quarter with the city’s biggest tourist attractions, The Waterfront and The Albert Dock, which in turn has had a significant impact on the image and perception of Liverpool generally,” concluded Neil Kirkham.
Zoe Bignell, Managing Director, Advisory, UK Development commented:
“This study has demonstrated how well thought out placemaking initiatives can have positive impacts on both the quality and human experience of urban spaces.It is no coincidence that good placemaking can, in turn, realise positive incremental effects on real estate values. As a business, we recognise the importance of identifying, creating and delivering a holistic approach to development opportunities and an important contributor to that is paying attention to the characteristics and intrinsic benefits of placemaking to drive demand and create value longevity.”
