Eye on Retail
Henderson Group’s Mark Adrian...
AN ESTATE TO BE RECKONED WITH
It’s only when you consider the size of Henderson Group’s property portfolio that you start to get an idea of the day to day challenges facing Mark Adrian and his team.
M
ark is Property Director at Henderson’s Mallusk headquarters and in charge of all property matters at the Group. “That means developing property plans and strategies to meet the goals that we’ve set for the growth of the business, and in infrastructure terms that means a 30-year horizon,” he says simply. But, within that, there’s a lot of work to be done. Mark and his team look after everything from the acquisition of new retail sites through to contracts, maintenance, energy management and every aspect of estate supervision. “It also means the project management of everything from new builds to refurbishments,” he says. Mark Adrian has been with the Henderson Group for eight years, moving into retail from the housing association sector.
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“We’re responsible for nearly 80 stores all over Northern Ireland... from the larger EUROSPAR supermarket outlets through to the SPAR fresh stores and on to the smaller neighbourhood outlets. Most of our stores can expect some level of investment every few years and we have an intensive programme of investment in all of our outlets.” Over recent years, the emphasis has been on changing the look and feel of all of the SPAR retail outlets to reflect the company’s clear emphasis on its fresh food offering. “We’ve also been busy changing the facilities available within our larger stores. It’s very common these days to find Subway outlets, Food-to-Go, butcheries and Post Office branches inside SPAR and EUROSPAR stores,” adds Mark Adrian.
Henderson Group, he says, is hungry for more store acquisition... be it via greenfield site developments, or more often, by the purchase of existing store operations. “We have close to 80 stores in Northern Ireland as things stand, and we’re aiming for a target of 100 outlets, but that’s definitely not the finish line for us. We’ll look at every opportunity closely and all of our Directors and Senior Managers keep their eyes open for potential sites.....it’s something we’re all used to doing. “What do we look for in a site? We’re looking for good quality, spacious locations with good customer access, room for car parking, ideally on a busy road and serving a clearly-defined community.” His department includes a dedicated business/property
acquisition team charged with identifying both greenfield sites and potential retail acquisitions. “We’ll work with all of the commercial property agencies serving the marketplace here and, like everyone else, we’ll monitor the media and keep our eyes and ears open.” Meanwhile, Mark and his team are kept busy on the day to day maintenance of Henderson Group’s property. “Our retail sites are in pretty much constant use, so there can be a lot of wear and tear. We’ve a dedicated maintenance team who will look after all sorts of issues as they arise at our properties... everything from emergency repairs through to planned maintenance and often working alongside a range of partners who will work with us on specialist areas like electrical, lighting and refrigeration. “It’s a high cost area for us as a company, but maintenance is vital to keeping up the high standards our shoppers are used to.” On the energy front, the company has invested some £3.5 million over recent years in environmental measures, ranging from the use of LED lighting in all stores through to the use of solar panels where possible. “Our aim is a very simple one,” says Mark Adrian. “As a company, we’ve set out to create worldclass convenience retail facilities right here in Northern Ireland. “We’ve looked all over the world at the best convenience and supermarket retail stores available and we’ve applied a lot of what we’ve learnt in our network here. “Property management and investment in our estate is vital to what we’re working hard to achieve.”