two people walking down a cobblestone street

Our Focus & Impact

Reawakening Dormant

Town Centre

Spaces

Background:

Many town centres face growing numbers of vacant retail units as a result of chain store failures, consumers increasing shopping online, and retailers moving to out of town retail parks.

Transitioning to a mixed-use model focused on modern leisure and entertainment in key strategic sites offers a way to revitalise these areas, attracting visitors and boosting local economies.

This approach requires strategic planning, mindful investment, stakeholder engagement, and community support to ensure both commercial success and social inclusivity.

Objective:

Revive town centres by stimulating leisure and entertainment-led mixed-use to create vibrant, 24/7 destinations.

Key Activities:

  • Incubate:  Establish areas to incubate local experience economy offerings and enable creatives and entrepreneurs
  • Attract: Attracting existing experience producers and location-based entertainment offerings to local markets
  • Invest: Develop strategic partnerships with governments, corporates, and private investors to fund MULE-led regeneration projects

Outcomes:

  • Increased footfall, and increased community engagement
  • Strengthened local identity through cultural offerings and creative and entrepreneurial enablement
  • Improved public spaces that foster social interaction and well-being
Reawakening SUPPORT

How We Support:

Create Space provides end-to-end services to help communities, town councils, landlords, and land owners revitalise their spaces, with a focus on entertainment and immersive leisure as key catalysts for transformation. 

Strategy

Our strategy support encompasses a comprehensive evaluation of the local market focussing on the entertainment and leisure landscape, mixed-use district maturity, and the potential opportunities.

Through market research, stakeholder engagement, and a thorough gap analysis, we provide a clear strategy to guide the reawakening of dormant spaces. The outcome is a strategic roadmap that reflects community needs and long-term goals for revitalisation.

Concept

Our concept development support spans district-wide planning, to individual sites, and in venue experiences. We delve into central themes, trends, and narratives that define the identity of reawakened spaces.

By weaving immersive storylines that highlight local history and culture, taking into consideration multiple datapoints on the potential audiences, we create a strong foundation for design, activities, and branding.

Our detailed guides, plans, and concept art ensure consistency across all elements, transforming any space into a unified and engaging experience for both residents and visitors.

Activate

The Activate support is designed to bring life and engagement back to town centres through a series of phased, community-driven activations.

These activities range from low-cost, short-term initiatives to more substantial, long-term projects that stimulate local economies, enhance public spaces, and build lasting community engagement.

This service ensures towns can test ideas, drive foot traffic, and foster a vibrant culture through immersive and creative experiences.

Incubate

We provide hands-on assistance in nurturing local entrepreneurs and developing modern entertainment and leisure offerings.

Through experience incubation programs, vendor sourcing, content partnerships, and project management, we ensure high-quality, timely execution of entertainment-led regeneration efforts.

This service supports the long-term vitality of new local businesses and ensures that projects are community-driven, community-supported, and economically viable.

Invest

We invest through our funds, attract seed and venture investment, coordinate corporate sponsorships, and broker public-private partnerships, ensuring projects are financially sustainable and attract long-term economic growth.

We start with feasibility assessments and advisory support to secure funding for reawakening projects including analysing cost-benefit scenarios, identifying funding opportunities, and developing business cases.

Attract

We attract investors, existing experience producers, and high-spending, repeat visiting, customers through our promotion and marketing support, positioning the space as a vibrant destination through investor networks, strategic branding, marketing campaigns, and event-driven strategies. 

In addition to building a strong local identity, we actively attract existing experience producers—such as entertainment providers, pop-up shows, and cultural events—to establish themselves in the space.

By promoting the space as a hub for immersive experiences, we drive footfall, enhance its reputation, and contribute to long-term economic growth and community engagement.

Improve

Our post-launch support focuses on performance monitoring and ongoing optimisation to ensure the long-term success of entertainment and leisure projects.

By gathering data and engaging stakeholders, we continually refine offerings and support local businesses through training programs and feedback loops, ensuring that regenerated spaces remain dynamic and responsive to community needs.