IHBC’s heritage business register HESPR – our Historic Environment Service Providers Recognition quality assurance scheme for heritage services – emails members weekly ‘News and Tender Alerts’, and this week features the Guardian’s featured response by M&S to Simon Jenkins on the Oxford Street demolition.
M&S operations director Sacha Berendji writes in the Guardian:
As a former store manager, I have great affection for ‘the Arch’, Marks & Spencer’s Marble Arch store on Oxford Street, London. So I feel compelled to respond to Simon Jenkins’ article about plans for its demolition and redevelopment….
….As we set out at the recent public inquiry, retrofitting the store is not a viable or deliverable alternative….
….we are unwavering in our aim to be net zero by 2040, a full 10 years ahead of the government’s ambition. Marble Arch is part of that strategy….
…. sales at Marble Arch are under half what they were during my spell 20 years ago, and footfall on the UK’s most famous high street remains significantly down on pre-Covid levels. But the answer is not to move to a commune of small traders….Modern stores from major retailers act as anchors for smaller, independent enterprises….
….This is proven by what is happening to Oxford Street now. Major retailers exiting. Tacky candy stores. Antisocial behaviour….
IHBC25
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For more on HESPR and how to become a HESPR member see hespr.ihbc.org.uk
For a free promotion of your tendering opportunities and work needs to the IHBC’s HESPR members, please send details and links to Joanna at contact@ihbc.org.uk, as soon as possible.
Tenders can also be advertised for a fee with IHBC Jobs etc, including a targeted email to 2500+ recipients as well as full coverage on our NewsBlog alerts and social platforms (membership and followers c.25,000) and websites with c. 250,000 visits a month. Contact Joanna at contact@ihbc.org.uk
