Case study
Capital & Regional The Marlowes Setting
Key stats
- Crèches users ATV 33% higher than the centre’s average
- Creche users dwell time 30% higher than that of other centre visitors
- 77% of registered families used the service within the first 4 months
Capital and Regional are a UK specialist Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) with a strong track record of delivering value-enhancing retail and leisure asset management opportunities across a portfolio of mainly in-town community shopping centres.
We were approached by Capital and Regional in early 2018 to look at providing a crèche facility for the local community at The Marlowes, their shopping centre in Hemel Hempstead. Their goal was to make the centre a destination for families, allowing them to engage in activities with or without their children, thereby increasing the visitor dwell time and occupancy. Their vision included providing exceptional changing and feeding facilities, a children's play area (so that parents could relax and enjoy the centre’s great food and coffee) and a crèche facility enabling parents to leave their children while they shopped, socialised or used the various wellness facilities.
We were awarded the contract to provide crèche services at The Marlowes in mid-2018. The facility was to be available for children aged 2 to 12 years and free of charge to the parents when they spent £1 in the centre.
From concept & design
- Identified a suitable unit in the heart of the centre
- Advised on the design & re-build of the unit to convert it into a creche
- Worked alongside the design team on the space, design and interior
- Provided a full IT infrastructure specification
- Attended weekly reviews on the project plan, build and specification
- Wrote the equipment specification then sourced products and managed deliveries
- Designed a registration and booking system
- Integrated the booking system with our website
- Recorded receipts to generate analytical data on location and spend
- Completed a full pre-launch risk assessment
- Passed all pre-opening checks with the relevant authorities
To mobilisation & launch
- Worked with the shopping centre marketing team on a large awareness campaign that included local radio & press, social media channels, bus adverts, local family publications and internal and external posters
- Recruited the care team and conducted all background & recruitment checks
- Ran a full induction and training programme for the team
- Oversaw the full operational set up, including the installation of all IT equipment including interactive Smartboards, activity game projectors and CCTV
- Held open days for the local community to experience the crèche
Ongoing
- Fully managing the day-to-day operation
- Running outreach events to raise awareness of the crèche
- Linking with retailers, running promotions and creating awareness
- Producing weekly reports demonstrating our progress against agreed KPIs
- Partnering with a local gym to promote the crèche to its members
- Offering additional classes for children, with a focus on music & movement
Key stats
- A crèche user’s average transactional spend (ATV) was 33% higher than the ATV of other centre users
- The average dwell time of a crèche user was 30% higher that an average centre visitor
- 77% of registered users visited the crèche in the first 4 months of opening
