Footfall impact on Wembley’s redevelopment

Posted by Datscha on 30th July 2019 -

With its iconic arch and capacity to hold up to 90,000 people, with great surrounding amenities, Wembley Stadium has helped elevate the area into one of the most up and coming areas in the capital. Ever since the stadium redevelopment completed in 2007, the area has seen significant investment from residential and commercial developers. By 2027 this £3bn redevelopment project is expected to serve around 15,000 new residents, and 8,000 office workers.

The redevelopment was unusual because it was leisure and retail that led the scheme rather than housing. Over eleven thousand new homes will be completed however the anchor is the London Designer Outlet which has become one of London’s leading fashion and lifestyle outlet centres. This 350,000 sq. ft development houses over 70 stores and restaurants and has proven to be a huge success; in January this year, it was announced that there had been 21 consecutive quarters of revenue growth since opening in 2013 which is impressive considering all of the negative stories about woes in the retail sector.

With so much development underway this will certainly create future opportunities for investors in the surrounding areas. How can Datscha help those looking to invest in commercial property in Wembley make the best decisions? Our recent collaboration with big data expert Gyana will enable users to enhance their knowledge of an area. You can layer, on to a map, the movement of people for a given time of the day, a weekend or a full month to see when and where there are peak flows of people along with ownership information, transaction comparables and planning data .

For example, an investor may have an interest in purchasing a building to redevelop it into a leisure facility but is not sure where the best location would be. Within Datscha, users will now be able to visualise the flow of people, perhaps around the new commercial developments, to see where the most visited locations are. They can also discover the prices that have been paid for commercial property within the area. This will help compare the asking price for the asset against other purchases in the area. If the asset still matches the requirements Datscha can help users save valuable time by identifying ownership immediately on the map to find out which company to approach. Or a developer may be considering building a new office on a plot of land so as well as needing to find out if planning permission has already been achieved, users can view the map to determine whether the surrounding area has high footfall levels or if it is close to transport links such as an underground or train station. You can even search to find out how long owners have held property for in the area, so perhaps those owners who have held on to property for some time might be ready to approach to acquire their property?

By layering Gyana on to Datscha, users can easily identify that at weekends the London Designer Outlet sees higher footfall than weekdays. Although this is an obvious conclusion (generally more people visit shops during the weekend than weekdays) users can also compare footfall over different time periods. This could display, perhaps, that when there is a big event taking place at Wembley Stadium the most popular time of day that visitors are likely to browse around the centre.

Zooming out a bit further to the surrounding areas of the redevelopment, users can also look at other locations in and around the Wembley Park redevelopment to find other areas of opportunity where there is a higher than average level of footfall. An example of this is the McDonalds restaurant near the North Circular (A406). Weekday evenings are the most popular time slot for visitors when many commuters are passing through on their way home. Weekends are also popular though – the building is situated opposite a major retail store, IKEA, where the busiest period to visit is the weekend. Knowing that this area is one of high footfall could help decide whether to proceed with purchasing a building or developing a site close to this location.

Location data is key in the real estate industry with many aspects having to be considered before making investment decisions. Arguably, one of the most important factors to consider when looking at a property/development should be where there is a higher concentration of people. By displaying how people are moving during the day gives those in the property industry additional, and often crucial, insight into this decision-making process.