The International Council of Shopped Centers (ICSC) has announced Berlin in Germany as the venue for its 2012 European Conference to be held April 18-20 at the city's Intercontinental Hotel.
Planning is already underway and the conference planning committee, headed up by Patrick Delcol, Country Head of Poland for DTZ real estate consultancy, includes retailer Douglas, MAB Development, SES Spar European Shopping Centres and Knight Frank. The title of the 2012 conference is 'Is Big Beautiful?'
The 2012 program will include ICSC's unique and highly successful CEO panel, where bosses from the industry's biggest businesses go head to head on trending topics. This year the CEOs from Unibail Rodamco, Hammerson, Atrium, mfi Management and Carrefour took part. In 2010 the panel included Multi Development and Trigranit.
A new format for retail participation will also be announced later this year.
Patrick Delcol said: "Retail is going through a massive period of change. Shopping developments got bigger as international retailers demanded more space and more retail and leisure choice seemed to deliver better footfall and bigger profits.
"But retail formats are changing that's good. Some retailers are reducing their shop footprint due to increased internet sales not so good, though it's producing unexpected opportunities. So is big really better? And what is big? It's traditionally meant more square footage, but there is much more to it than that. Is such a format sustainable and are smart cities able to accommodate bigger retail formats?
"The ICSC 2012 European Conference will look at 'Big' from every angle: From Investment ambitions, retailer strategy, retail development goals and the industry's success in having its critical role within the European economy acknowledged.
"Thanks to ICSC; the industry now speaks with one voice within the heart of the European Parliament. As a result, European directives on issues such as sustainability and planning strategies are changing in our favor as the EU acknowledges the huge investment and employment the industry delivers across the region.
"To have a successful career in retail real estate, professionals need to be well-connected, well-educated, with big ambitions. For me, the annual ICSC European Conference always delivers."
For more information on the ICSC European Conference 2012 visit www.icsc.org/2012EU
Source: Nicky Godding
