Category

Team of the Year

Entered By

Multi-Realm

Why did you want to enter The Revo’s? 

Entering the Revo Awards brings an opportunity to take a pause and look back on past achievements and drill down into a robust assessment of how a project panned out compared to expectations. Perhaps more importantly Revo Awards are an opportunity for entries to show change and evolution within the sector. Anyone can say a promotion was  outstanding or a centre outperformed but what are the wider trends and direction of travel? How are roles, approaches and skills evolving to ensure we as a community are ensuring we are fit for purpose as a profession. Retailers are not short of innovation and we need the places where retail exists to match that level of proactiveness and change – to me that is what the Revo Awards are for – the winners and shortlisted entries booklet should serve as a manual for future strategies and a reminder of the need to adapt.

What makes your entry standout?

I think our entry stands out as it is a reminder that there are bigger forces at play in the occupier market which require deep levels of resilience and skill to negotiate. We have moved on from leasing being a linear process and the need for collaboration when business plans and turnover projections are so important. The UK probably doesn’t need any more retail destinations so if they are going to be built then they need authenticity, purpose and a clear vision to succeed. We have to avoid clone developments and I think we achieved this as attested by our reviews, comments and guest feedback. It’s no longer about just filing space or ‘painting by numbers’ placemaking. We have to make people care about the places they spend time, shop, engage, socialise and feel connected.

How do you envision the future of your industry, and how do you hope to contribute to it?

Retail is increasingly in the ‘attention business’ – we have to change attitudes, test new business models, work with data and try to tackle the sector’s challenges together, collaboratively. Ask the ‘why?” question much more often when doing deals and take a much wider view of demographics, consumer behaviour and purpose. Retail does have a future in our society but we have to tackle some of the bigger issues such as oversupply of space, long term voids, repurposing and ensuring the sector is regarded as a profession – with skills on the shop floor that are championed, heralded and seen as sought after. Maybe Revo events need to try to break down the sectors – high street, retail park, city centre centres and out of town centres to try and stage events that are less generalist and more specific to the subsectors and niches. Retail Destination is a good event but speakers at Revo events need to do more than talk about their own projects and schemes – we need speakers that take a step back and get to the nub of the issues we are facing rather than just championing successes.

What one word best summarises your entry?

Masterclass