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Paddington Waterside Partnership Retail Priorities Study
George Grace was commissioned by Paddington Waterside Partnership to investigate what the retail offer should do in the context of the newly formed business improvement district.
The creation of Paddington Waterside is well underway. Covering an area the size of Soho, the mixed-use development forms London's new premier residential, commercial, leisure, retail and health quarter. Paddington Waterside involves 14 different development schemes across 80 acres, with a development period, which began in 1998, stretching 20 years. Established initially by developers, landowners and transport interests Paddington Waterside Partnership works alongside local agencies and communities to ensure that this new location fits socially, economically and physically with its surroundings. The Partnerships runs a bespoke corporate community investment programme and manages the surrounding Paddington Business Improvement District.
A Recommendations and Priorities for Approval paper was produced following a process that sought to develop consensus on what initiatives the BID should pursue in order to boost the area from a retail perspective. The approach included a brainstorming session with local retail agents, retail businesses and officers and board members of the BID) to discuss how the general Paddington area could be made more attractive as a retail location. The format of the brainstorming session was a presentation with various ideas presented by the BID team to stimulate debate followed by a general discussion leading to priorities.
These ideas were then tested against a further six local retailers and a report produced that set a scoring system to illustrate an overall priority rating based on feedback from both groups in relation to:
Niche or cluster strategies
Access andlinkages
Uses and activities
Comfort and image
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