Guest Blog: Steve Priddis, Retail Asset Management Programme Leader

Posted on: 25 April, 2016

Retail Asset Management Programme Leader, Steve Priddis, features in the first of our guest blog series. He provides insight into his background in the industry; the newly developed Retail Asset Management Programme; and his time at the ICSC European Conference in Milan, addressing authenticity in the Retail industry.

Retail asset management across the globe

“My previous 29 years of global retail asset management experience has seen me travel all over the world; with nine years in the UK; six years in the Middle East; six years in Central and Eastern Europe; and four years in China. I’m very proud to have worked on some fantastic projects including the management set-up, launch and/or on-going management of some of the worlds largest developments. These include Taipei 101 in Taipei, the Marina Mall in Abu Dhabi, The PLACE and Four Seasons in Beijing, and Cevahir Shopping Centre in Istanbul – to name but a few.

With joining UCEM in 2015 I’m extremely proud to now be helping other young professionals reach their potential in the Retail Property industry. The retail asset sector is far bigger than just shopping centres – and the Retail Asset Management Programme (RAMP) is a new offering, developed by UCEM to replace and enhance the Diploma in Shopping Centre Management.”

Breaking away from the traditional

“The focus of RAMP is very much on the retail destination, breaking away from the traditional image of a shopping centre to reflect the changing patterns of retailing and retail property development. Mixed-use developments – which can be found in many of our major cities today, together with transport hubs – will be covered within the programme to represent the proportion of retail spend at such locations.

For students, RAMP offers the opportunity of an advanced entry route into our bachelor’s degree programmes, and application for membership at Associate and Member grade of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) – dependent on the level of the degree. It’s truly a great opportunity to start building your career in the Property industry and improve your qualifications.

Further to this – following on from a series of CPD webinars in the area of ‘Managing Retail Centres and Retailing’ provided by UCEM – JLL is the first UK managing agent to offer tailored CPD seminars.

The webinar series covers the core principles of shopping centre and retail asset management, and has been specifically created to meet identified training requirements and the need for a more flexible approach towards CPD. We’re very excited to be working with JLL and are especially looking forward to extending the reach of our training to professionals at all levels within the industry.”

ICSC: Authenticity in the Retail industry

Last week, Steve attended the ICSC European Conference. With a high relevance to RAMP, Steve was there to keep up to date with events, activities, and trends in the EU market as we see it today.

“It was a great few days at the ICSC European Conference. It’s a cornerstone event of the industry – which took place in a fascinating city, Milan, identifying with all that is admired in design, fashion and gastronomy.

The conference this year attracted a wide-range of delegates from the Retail Asset and Shopping Centre industry, providing plenty of food for thought.

There was an outstanding line-up of industry leaders discussing subjects at the very operational heart of retail and real estate – and how we connect with all of our stakeholders. With the key theme of ‘authenticity’, the event focused on our ability as an industry to make our destinations, services and products not only relevant to our customers – but also able to enable and inspire them.

Everyone in the industry needs to be involved in ensuring the retail experience, wherever it may happen, is a positive one. The destination, the channel, the customer journey, the product, and the transaction are fundamental – and it’s up to us to ensure that we’re creating the places in which they can successfully occur. It’s at conferences such as this – with the natural exchange of information and ideas – where our thinking is really able to evolve in order to influence the industry for the future.

It was a very exciting and thought provoking event, which challenged delegates to reflect upon how to develop the experience, get back to basics, and supply consumers with exactly what they want in a very genuine manner. A great opportunity to network and explore with colleagues and friends from across Europe, and further afield – providing a chance to take time out from the detail of our daily activity to focus on what really matters to the customer.

If you’re in the industry, you need to remain connected and it’s events such as this, which afford us the opportunity.”

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