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Adam Selvey WSP

Birmingham can think like the Emirates when planning for retail

HS2 and more longer haul flights from the airport mean there’s an opportunity to change the character of shopping and leisure in the city, says WSP’s Adam Selvey.

It is great news for the region that we now have a clear plan to capitalise on Birmingham’s already strong retail offering in the form of the city council’s retail strategy out to consultation until the end of this month. Improving the public realm and creating a more diverse range of entertainment will be key to creating the “world class” retail destination hailed in the strategy.

"Other unique leisure offers such as indoor ski slopes as featured in Mall of the Emirates would go a long way to drawing more families into the city."

However, with the arrival of the extended runway at Birmingham airport and the future HS2 station at Curzon Street, the way people will travel to and from and navigate through the city is likely to change. The city will need to assess the impacts of these two major projects to ensure we have the right retail landscape planned, in the right places, with the right transport connections.

With regards to the planned increase in entertainment and leisure, this needs to be created as a hub and needs to be more than just cinema and bowling. There are several unique leisure offerings around the world that create places for families to spend time and would bring them back into the city. There once was a plan to build a vertical theme park in Birmingham - other unique leisure offers such as indoor ski slopes as featured in Mall of the Emirates would go a long way to drawing more families into the city.

As the strategy states, Birmingham's retail offering needs more diversity. This diversity could be achieved by again, looking to projects that have worked well in other parts of the world. The provision of box malls as in Christchurch New Zealand and Shoreditch is a great example.

This would present opportunity for start-up businesses from local universities to rent spaces on a short period to sell goods and fashion. In addition, Birmingham could build upon its already successful German market to create new markets that sell high quality meat, fish, fruit and veg, which could be located near restaurants and bars.

"In Dubai, the Dubai Mall has the Dubai Fountain, and Chicago’s Crown Fountain in Millennium Park helps create an attraction to draw people to congregate in the city."

The airport is likely to expand the numbers and nationality of people who visit Birmingham. Our retail and leisure offer will need to be modified to cater for the varying tastes and expectations of the revised visitor demographic.

Public realm is not just about creating a high quality street environment; it is also about creating places and points of interest so that people want to stay longer. Retail around the world tries to create attractions as a draw to a particular mall over another. In Dubai, the Dubai Mall has the Dubai Fountain, and Chicago’s Crown Fountain in Millennium Park helps create an attraction to draw people to congregate in the city. If Birmingham establishes these focal points, it will act as a reason for people come into the city, over others.

Transportation is of course key to making a city function. The Metro expansion planned for Centenary Square and East Side needs to look further to improve links to the city from its suburbs. With HS2, the city will have a new arrival point. The retail locations and types will have a major effect on how people move through the city.

In addition to traffic impact assessments, we need to undertake pedestrian impact assessments  from the new and existing transport hubs. How people move through the city will change we need to ensure that the retail circuit is maintained and improved otherwise it is likely that some streets will fall into decline, as happened when the Bullring opened.

Adam Selvey is leader of WSP’s global retail network.