• Read more about Adapting assets key to survival

Harry Badham is Chief Development and Asset Repositioning Officer at Hammerson

Evolutionary science shows survival is synonymous with an ability to adapt to the environment. Sometimes haphazard, sometimes planned, sometimes copied, adaption is the key to survival. Whether you own or operate real estate, the world is now at one of those moments when more has happened to the environment in two years than would normally be expected in a decade.

• Read more about Brown Thomas 'Reinvents Retail'

Connor Owens, Managing Director, Asset Management (Ireland & Scotland)

This month an important milestone was reached at Dundrum Town Centre as the doors opened for a brand-new Brown Thomas.

The Selfridges-owned brand has invested in a 62,000 sq ft store, promising to “reinvent retail” with a concept based on customer experience and innovation.

With anticipation building in the lead up through media coverage and across social channels, crowds jostled with excitement to get a first look at the new store.

• Read more about Bullring at the helm for Birmingham

If nine months is synonymous with new life, then it has greater significance for the West Midlands' great metropolis – Birmingham. 

This is how long the city must wait until it welcomes the world's best athletes for the Commonwealth Games, whilst heralding a new beginning with further inward investment.  

But Birmingham has already given us a glimpse of what it can do this year and the Bullring Estate has been at the heart of the action. 

• Read more about Bullring & Grand Central ‘step up’ with Kick Game

Iain Mitchell, UK Commercial Director at Hammerson

What do Anna Wintour (magazine editor), Kanye West (musician) and Serena Williams (athlete) have in common? 

The answer: They have all stepped into strategic business partnerships in the lucrative market of limited edition sneakers. Such is their prestige, the resale market for limited edition footwear is valued at USD1bn globally.  

• Read more about How entertainment and experiences led the 'Great British Retail Reopening''

It was called ‘The Great British Retail Reopening’.

After months of restrictions, retailers alongside restaurants and bars welcomed customers back to their venues.

In the run up to restrictions lifting this spring, the teams at our flagships worked on curating a range of innovative events, installations and activations to enhance the customer experience, upon their return, whilst driving responsible footfall.

• Read more about Letter to Editor: Make commercial key pillar of Call Off Duty campaign

To date Property Week’s “Call off Duty” campaign has largely focused on the impacts of onerous stamp duty hikes on the residential sector, and whilst I am in agreement that the changes have failed to produce the outcomes envisioned by the previous Government and should be revised by the new Chancellor, I am also keenly aware of the unintended consequences that may follow as a result. Because property is historically taxed in the country where its assets are situated, real estate has been an easy target for successive governments.

• Read more about Retail’s role in urban regeneration

It was encouraging to see that Deloitte’s recent Annual Crane Survey declared a “building boom” of activity taking place across the UK’s leading regional cities, marked by construction reaching heights that haven’t been seen since the 2008 financial crisis.

• Read more about Sharing’s Caring: the retail industry and the growth of the sharing economy

In January Dixon Carphone’s CEO, Seb James, revealed a new retail model that looks to ‘redefine the industry’, based around the growing sharing economy. Rather than selling a product, customers at Dixons Carphone sign up to a monthly membership fee in a move aimed at retaining customer loyalty and adapting to the changing attitudes towards ownership.