Signing a deal is just the beginning. Taking a retailer from initial enquiry to trading in one of the UK’s major shopping centres involves months of technical, legal, and logistical complexity — delivered in a fully live environment, around trading occupiers and the visiting public.

Our Retail Project Management team sits at the centre of that process. We get involved early — before heads of terms are agreed — providing pre-feasibility advice, early budget steers, and technical input that ensures negotiations are grounded in what’s actually deliverable.

The AFL is the point of no return. We review and negotiate retailer shell specifications, input into AFL drafting to remove onerous mechanisms and obligations, ensure the building contract is back-to-back with AFL and track/discharge obligations for smooth handover.

It’s specialist work — and getting it wrong can have real consequences at handover.

Every project takes place in a trading centre. This presents unique logistical challenges and a number of interested third parties such as retailers, general public, centre management, residential – all of these must be business as usual during project delivery.

Our team has the retail sector experience to manage the process without disruption.

Leasing agents, solicitors, retailers’ project managers, the consultant team and asset managers all come and go at different stages of the process. We’re there from the first enquiry to the moment a retailer opens for trade — and that continuity makes the difference for successful delivery.