As a new contributor I am pleased to provide the foreword to the 4th edition of the Jones Lang LaSalle Retail Park OSCAR.
This year has again seen a major increase in the size of the database which now includes around a quarter of all Retail Parks with service charges in the UK. This increase of over 65% of the number of parks included in the database is a significant portion of the market and reinforces the credibility of the information and conclusions.
The UK retail park sector continues to evolve with a number of sub-sectors emerging. Not least of these is the shopping park, a relatively new trading format which now competes with the high street and shopping centres. The expansion of information provided for this sub-sector in OSCAR 2007 provides an essential measure to differentiate the varying types of parks and thereby improve the benchmarking. The inclusion of budgeted costs as well as actual service charges provides a valuable insight into the utilisation of the service charge in the most up to date format available.
As both retailer and landlord face mounting pressure to provide value for money in an increasingly competitive environment the service charge will come under ever closer scrutiny. The increased transparency OSCAR provides across the sector is extremely welcome when aiming to provide value for money for our clients the retailers.
Retail Park OSCAR will now more than ever be the benchmarking measurement tool for both owners and occupiers.
David Tudor-Morgan Director, Retail & Shopping Park Property Management
