Build Magazine May 2016

Build Magazine 62 Worldwide, we are seeing the expansion of uses for land in and around our airports, stations and ports becoming big business and a valuable source of income for occupiers and landlords alike. For successful developments, there is an increasing need to consider retail, offices, leisure, food & beverage and residential in the offer. To maximise on this, public spaces in transport hubs need to be expertly designed and executed to enhance retailer-consumer engagement, encourage dwell time and increase passenger spend in a terminal or stations’ stores. This is more challenging in a transport environment compared to, for example, a shopping centre, given that the nature of transport hubs means people are restricted by the amount of time they can spend in a particular area. The team at Leslie Jones boasts both extensive retail and transport experience. As such, we are able to apply our knowledge of consumer and retailer needs alongside the unique requirements of transport hubs to produce successful commercial strategies within these unique environments. Passengers now have a greater choice than ever before when deciding which transport to use – for example which airports to fly from, fly to and use for transit. Transport architecture for any particular scheme must ensure the scheme can compete with a rapidly growing number of transport hubs. Our design solutions need to meet sophisticated consumer requirements and provide a passenger experience where shopping and leisure are truly integrated, safeguarding a scheme’s commercial competitive advantage. Leslie Jones has been appointed by the Port of Dover and Bride Hall Real Estate Partners to design and deliver the commercial strategy of the partnership’s Dover waterfront regeneration project. The significant mixed-use development is expected to include residential, retirement living, catering, retail and leisure facilities to revitalise the town and elevate the area’s tourism offering. Our designs will compliment Dover’s historical context, while bringing a modern mixed-use development to the world’s most iconic international transport hub concepts. We understand how to capture successful elements of mixed-use schemes across the UK, and adapt, then transfer them to the benefit of other developments. We have also been working on a visioning process for HS2, identifying opportunities for retail, office and hotel uses on land in and around the station environment, as well as a commercial design strategy for the future Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central (DWC) and other busy international airports around the world. Airports such as Dubai are able to boast a higher volume of air passengers going through transit for longer periods of time and this drives a need for us to create more innovative design solutions that will capture the audience’s imagination, while supporting the occupier requirements. Leslie Jones’ commercial design strategy for the future airport will ensure that premium space is effectively planned, and successful airport businesses will be ideally positioned to engage with high volumes of global travellers. A profound understanding of operators’ challenges, within an aviation context, is critical when designing such an environment. Our design strategy will address this by supporting the creation of an integrated commercial environment that will elevate consumer engagement and optimise space intelligently. Owners of transport hubs should first approach their commercial design strategy like a shopping centre landlord. People go shopping for a leisure experience and social interaction as much as the shopping trip. The two are equal motivations and so shopping centres cater for both, which in turn provides tenants with a longer customer dwell time in the vicinity. For a transport hub’s commercial design solution, we believe it is about capturing what, for example, a shopping centre has achieved and adapting it for the transport environment. Transport Hub Evolution Construction Leslie Jones Architecture is working with a host of transport operators to deliver innovative commercial solutions in their passenger terminals, stations and lounges. James Cons, their Managing Director, discusses how transport hubs are on course for commercial success.