38


The centre’s first-floor dining area, for example,


has at its heart a void capable of being filled by inserting a temporary floor in order to stage events. It’s a relatively simple device but it is illustrative of the way in which Westfield flexes space as required. Bill Giouroukos, director of operations at


Westfield UK, says that at individual retail tenant level, once a lease has been signed it can be 'quite difficult' to tweak units as trading conditions dictate. 'That said, people’s lives change and if we can accommodate that, then we’ll try to help,'


he explains. Practically, this will frequently mean that spaces may be subdivided or enlarged, depending on how a retailer performs. At this point, the services of Paula Wylie,


general manager of retail design at Westfield, come into their own. Wylie and her team work with retailers not just to ensure that there will be a fit between mall and retail unit, but also to help them make their offers work within the confines of the unit from which they have selected to trade – giving suggestions for types of materials and producing plans that will help the process. All of this means that speed – a central


commodity for retailers – can be a reality when it comes to getting a shop to opening day. 'Some retailers can move from deal to shop in four to six weeks, although we were working with the anchors [the major space-using tenants in the scheme – Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Waitrose] from a couple of years out,' says Giouroukos. Flexibility and a permanent on-site design and architectural team have been key to making a success of the scheme for Stratford City’s tenants. For a mall that opened in the jaws of a recession,


3 & 4. The Westfield shop interior allows a high degree of tenant customisation


this has also ensured a healthy tenant mix and occupation rate. The ability to work and re-evaluate space with tenants, rather than merely viewing them as contract-bound cash cows, sets Stratford City some distance apart from shopping-centre norms.


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