Retail property developer, Hammerson, realised the importance of place-making in creating sustainable retail destinations that deliver positive social, environmental, and economic impacts. In 2015, they launched their new ‘Positive Places’ commitments, each with its own set of targets, to help the organisation progress its Sustainability Agenda.
As part of this work, Useful Projects was appointed to develop a working definition of successful placemaking which was specific to Hammerson.
Good placemaking has a profound impact on communities. High-quality places enhance wellbeing and provide spaces that genuinely respond to the needs of the communities that use them.
Successful collaboration
Working alongside JLL, we reviewed industry best practice around social sustainability and placemaking, facilitating a workshop with Hammerson’s key team members to review placemaking priorities and perceptions of success.
From this, we developed a list of key attributes associated with successful places which Hammerson could address, creating a series of metrics to measure placemaking performance.
Our team went on to help Hammerson develop standards and measures that could be adopted across their portfolio. These will be used to measure the impact the organisation is having on communities, through investment in placemaking, and then to understand how they can use their investment to further enhance Social Value.
