

European commercial property company Unibail-Rodamco is stepping up the pace of innovation across its pan-European mall portfolio by collaborating more closely with startups, according to Ludovic Flandin, the company’s group director of innovation.
And Flandin is optimistic that the next batch of six concepts, currently being trialled, will come up with another winning format. These include an urban farm within the shopping centre that supplies its restaurants with fresh produce.
Looking further ahead Flandin believes the commercial relationship between owners and occupiers is ripe for reform. He said that, “the sharing of customer knowledge is likely to become common”, and predicts new forms of lease will emerge allowing retailers’ space needs to shrink or grow over the term of the lease.