The UK is now slowly easing its way out of lockdown and over the next days, weeks and months will be gradually lifting the restrictions put in place as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

As a result, we will see our town and city centres begin to re-open, kick-starting the economy as people return to some semblance of normality. However, this is unlikely to be an easy process, especially as social distancing measures will remain in place for some time. With this in mind, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), property managers and local authorities will need to work together in order to safely and successfully stay open for business.

Although the lockdown has been catastrophic for some, it has also given stakeholders the chance to pause and reflect on a number of issues that have historically plagued the high street. While there is ultimately no silver bullet, taking time to reset, restart and recover will hopefully make a difference in the long term.

Town and city centres were already undergoing a period of dramatic change, even prior to Covid-19. While there will be new challenges to face, the pandemic will serve to quicken the pace of this transformation. The opportunity to reset how we view the high street, assessing what works and what doesn’t and, as a result, creating a place that people want rather than need to be is now more important than ever. Casualties will unfortunately be inevitable, but how we fill these vacancies should help to shape the future for the better.

On a more practical level is the need to restart. Places shut down overnight, but reopening will not be quite as easy. Countries that have already left lockdown have shown that consumers are unlikely to return in their droves, but act with far more caution. This will mean a period of re-engaging with customers and ensuring they feel confident that it is, first and foremost, safe to return to public places.

This then brings us to the long road to recovery. Most urban centres will be irreversibly changed by the pandemic. Consequently, this will require new ways of thinking around viability, planning, redevelopment and repurposing.

Essential questions we need to ask include what will be the primary purpose of these places in the future and how will we use them in a post Covid-19 world? Shopping has historically been the default answer, but this is unlikely to remain the case in a future where town centres will need to become more about living, working and socialising.

Rebuilding these places will take time and of course money, which is why the Government’s announcement of a £6.1 million Resilience Fund was met with relief by many as BIDs will be crucial to both restart and recovery efforts.

As High Streets Minister Simon Clark MP has said, the Fund is designed to help ‘support local businesses, empower communities, champion our town centres and drive forward the renewal of our high streets.’

If nothing else, Covid-19 has created an opportunity to consider the places we once took for granted, which can only be a positive moving forward.

Further information

Read more: Impacts: How to repurpose retail space