‘Tis the season to be prepared

As the festive shopping season reaches its peak, brick-and-mortar stores are experiencing the highest levels of footfall of the year. When people walk through a busy shopping centre, they notice the shops, cafes, crowds, even the music but rarely think about what happens behind the scenes to keep it all running smoothly. We caught up with our Operations Director (Scotland), Mark McCallum, to hear more about these unseen systems.

Drainage is one of the most critical systems that goes unnoticed, as it should. However, when the festive rush hits and demand increases, even a minor failure can create operational risk – flooding, access issues, customer safety concerns or even temporary store closures. It only becomes visible when something goes wrong, because that is when the impact is felt in both trading and customer experience.

Readying for the rush

That’s why it’s important to have a proactive Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) programme that is supported by rapid and reactive emergency response. Planned maintenance, CCTV surveys and scheduled cleaning help identify issues early, meaning businesses get higher returns and flexibility from the assets they depend on. While emergency response support ensures urgent challenges are resolved quickly and safely, keeping the bricks-and-mortar sector of retail operational when it matters most.

Industry outlook

While retail businesses aren’t part of the regulatory bodies governed by AMP8 or SR27, the emphasis on resilience, smarter asset performance, environmental responsibility and data-driven decision making is just as prominent. This outlook means that our retail hubs in the UK should anticipate the impact of increased demand, severe weather patterns and ageing infrastructure.

Through our long-term drainage and civils contract with Braehead Shopping Centre in Renfrew, we see how essential a reliable drainage network is to retail performance. We see our customers as partners, because customer-centric is what makes Ipsum who we are. Our customers see value knowing their site is being actively managed and strategically supported, not simply repaired when something goes wrong.

Keeping the upward trend

Last year, research showed that footfall was up by 14% YoY across all UK destinations. So, for our industry the goal is clear. Operational reliability, risk reduction, asset uptime and a seamless customer experience are essential to continuing the upward trend.

And, if you’re lucky like our customers. You have an engineering solutions provider that supports your business with wider infrastructure services like civils and groundworks, electrical networks (LV – 33kV), EV charging, and SCADA systems, to name a few. It means we can manage risk holistically, not just at the point of failure, but across the interconnected assets that keep a retail environment moving during peak season.
Want to know more about what we can do to help your business? Contact us.