Retail property developer Hammerson realise the importance of place-making in creating sustainable retail destinations that deliver positive social, environmental and economic impacts. In 2015 Hammerson launched a new set of Positive Places Commitments, each with its own set of targets, to help the organization move forward their sustainability agenda.

As part of this work, Useful Projects were appointed to help develop a working definition of successful place-making which is specific to Hammerson. Good place-making has a profound impact on communities. High quality places can enhance wellbeing, and provide spaces that genuinely respond to the needs of the communities that use them.

Working alongside JLL, we reviewed industry best practice around social sustainability and place-making, and facilitated a workshop with key Hammerson staff to review place-making priorities and perceptions of success.

From this we developed a list of key attributes associated with successful places which Hammerson could address, and a set of metrics against which to measure place-making performance.

Moving forward, UP will help Hammerson develop standards and measures that will be adopted across the Hammerson portfolio. These will be used to measure the impact that Hammerson are having on communities, through investment in place-making, and then to understand how they can use their investment to further enhance social value.