Have you switched to supporting local businesses amid this crisis and found that the benefits of shopping with smaller local retailers outweigh the slightly increased prices you may pay for...

What’s the most popular ‘retail asset class’ in the current market? A Big Gun? A Little Gun? A department store building in the centre of a city? A row of...

The retail sector has always been in a constant state of evolution, adapting to changes in society, economic cycles, densification of population and technical advances. Even before the outbreak of...

Is the time of the ‘architectural brief’ at an end? Will it be replaced by a Pinterest board? According to Susanne Pini, the Pinterest trend is producing ‘sameness’, and creativity...

What’s a ‘Net Zero Carbon’ building? It may generate its own power, emit no carbon, but it might be constructed of materials full of carbon. On the other hand, it...

Technology continues to shape our built environment, but a balance needs to be achieved between hi-tech demands and simple human interaction. Social interaction cannot be replaced with technology or virtual...

The future of bricks-and-mortar retail? Brave soul who would forecast it. That doesn’t mean it’s under threat; it’s not. But it needs to and it will change – dramatically. Susanne...

It’s all about how you look at a centre; how you perceive it. Is a centre an isolated component of the world in which we live; or is it a...

What’s new in retail design? Who is leading the pack and where? Tony Quinn looks at some new and innovative designs, scanning the globe from Leiden in the Netherlands to...

In an age of flying cars, food sold in restaurants grown on site, micro-chips implanted in our eyes so we can pay with retina scans, will shopping centres even exist?...

If you thought going to the movies was about sitting in an auditorium and watching a film, think again! That’s old hat; it’s what cinemas used to be. Now it’s...

We see countless examples of old buildings being given a new life as old industrial structures are transformed into modern venues. More often than not, ‘retail’ in new forms –...

There are massive programs underway in many Australian centres to minimise power usage and move towards sustainable structures. Passivhaus is a globally recognised building certification for producing buildings using minimum...

Forget the Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, even Gen Z – the next shapers of our shopping centres are the Alphas – those born between 2010 and 2025. Don’t think...

We are all aware of ‘creating spaces’. For many years now, we have been creating them in our centres. However, there’s a new trend emerging – ‘Creating Connections’. Some top...

An interesting and intellectual piece on ‘place making’ and what it entails. What constitutes a ‘place’? What are its elements? Are they material or abstract; functional or emotive? Could they...

Could a retail-led mix provide the perfect next generation use for important light industrial sites, which through gentrification and proximity to the city now find themselves sitting among new communities?...

QICGRE’s Eastland shopping centre in Melbourne has been awarded one of the world’s most prestigious architecture prizes for its open-air Town Square precinct. The accolade for best shopping mall exterior...

‘Biophilic Design’ seems like a mouthful but it has real and significant influence on the way we behave. How we connect with nature influences our mood, well being and mindset;...

We reported recently on our e-newsletter that GPT’s Highpoint in Melbourne hosted a Coachella inspired ‘Kidchella’ festival. Savvy brands, as Susanne Pini tells us, are aligning with festivals to reach...

“We often refer to human civilisations by the principal materials they employ, such as the Bronze Age, Iron Age etc. In this vein, the 20th century can be very much...

Increasingly, design of our shopping centres moves away from the ‘box’ and replicates the shopping strips of the past. ‘Main Street architecture’ has much to teach us about vibrancy, human scale...

Fast-food is getting slower! Even the signage such as the McDonald’s arches or the KFC logos are turning into architectural forms. Alternatively, they are disappearing – Sydney’s McDonald’s at Camperdown...

Slow down and smell the roses. That’s Tony Quinn’s advice if you want to achieve a well-designed centre. The new buzzword is ‘Biophillic Design’ – designing to increase humans’ innate...

There was a time, not too long ago, when the major debate in our industry was all about the ‘boxes’ we’d created, with the entire action being on the inside...

Biophilic Design has entered the shopping centre world! It’s all about connecting with nature and when we do (in a shopping centre), it increases dwell-time and the retail spend, with...

Now here’s an article to set some retail development managers running to the arena of Public Private Partnerships. The redevelopment of railway stations presents some massive opportunities. Great retail centres...

If you’ve got a department store that looks like it could be on the way out, don’t worry about filling the space! Tony Quinn has lots of options – after...

Ian Ringrose recently joined the Large Format Retail Association Study Tour of Osaka and Tokyo in Japan. Are there lessons to be learned from a different type of retail in...

From demand for plant-based foods and flower power to the growth of innovative concept restaurants and all the ‘Instagram worthy’ meals in between, these are just some of the food...

With retail sales somewhat stagnant, major department stores posting poor figures and other majors downsizing, one could be forgiven for thinking it’s all ‘doom and gloom’. However, Tony Quinn sees...