We would like to invite you to attend the first joint SPR/SLA event, kindly hosted by Savills.

We have a great line up planned for you, with Tom Whittington of Savills sharing his research into economic and environmental sustainability and a lively panel session with industry experts. Join us for an evening of networking with like minded people.

During his presentation Tom will explore themes including:

• The changing world of retail and the implication on our places 
•  Repurposing and an alternative use story
•  Driving economic sustainability through more diverse uses
•  Moving towards the net zero high street
•  The implications of these changes for location planners
  
  Panellists:
  Chair: Andy Thompson, Cofounder of Red Tiger Coaching, Chairman of Anytime Fitness UK and Co-chair of the SLA
  Tom Whittington, Director or Retail & Leisure Research, Savills
  Sam Fox, Head of Research and Analytics at Ellandi
  Samantha Bain-Mollison, former Retail Director at Shaftesbury PLC
  Matthew Soffair, Senior Strategist, LGIM Real Assets
  
  Agenda:
  5.30pm: Registration and networking
  6.00pm: Introduction
  6.05pm: 2024 Salary Survey
  6.20pm: Student awards 2024
  6.30pm: Keynote speaker: Tom Whittington, Director or Retail & Leisure Research, Savills – Reimagining Retail:   Driving economic and environmental sustainability through more diverse town and city centre uses
  7.00pm: Panel Discussion: Reimagining Retail in Practice – Chaired by Andy Thompson
  7.30pm: Conclusion and networking
  
  To register for this event please click on the link below, please note registrations are managed by the SLA not the SPR.
  Reimagining Retail Tickets, Thu 9 May 2024 at 18:00 | Eventbrite
  
  
  
  Matt Soffair, Senior Strategist, LGIM Real Assets
  Matt is a strategist within LGIM Real Assets’ retail team and is responsible for LGIM’s research into UK retail, leisure and hotel real assets. Matt’s role involves guiding the team’s investment strategy into these sectors, providing evidence-based insight & analytics to support platform and asset strategies and supports the operational management of these schemes. Prior to LGIM, Matt worked directly with a range of retail, leisure and FMCG operators on their location and customer acquisition strategies. Matt graduated from the University of Leeds and holds a BA (Hons) degree in Geography.
  
  
  Tom Whittington, Director or Retail & Leisure Research, Savills
  Tom has advised retailers, landlords and developers for 25 years on all things retail and leisure real estate, from store expansion strategies, shopping centre feasibility, supermarket performance and development consultancy. For the last 10 years he has been a commentating on ways of rationalising and improving retail places to address the needs created from over expansion and addressing both economic and environmental sustainability challenges. His passion lies with creating genuine curated mixed-use spaces that serve better social value, have more positive environmental impact, while still fulfilling the financial expectations of investors and other key stakeholders. Tom curates Savills award winning publication Reimagining Retail, which is a cross industry collaboration of thought leadership that discusses some of the biggest challenges facing the sector, and their solutions.