Rather like the BCSC and MAPIC events we preview in this special supplement, celebrating the best retail environments is at the heart of what Retail Week is about.

Rather like the BCSC and MAPIC events we preview in this special supplement, celebrating the best retail environments is at the heart of what Retail Week is about.

And with the Retail Destination of the Year category at the Oracle Retail Week Awards celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, we thought it was a good time to look at the schemes that have set the pace for retail development in the UK by winning the award over the past decade.

The lesson of the centres is the need to keep the offer fresh. That has to mean that it attracts the best new brands, and has great management, events and regular updating to keep it somewhere people want to spend time.

It has been a lean couple of years for shopping centre development, but with schemes in Stratford, Leeds, Newbury and Wakefield among others now taking shape, there are at last more positive signs for the development world.

But the development boom of the last decade has meant most of the UK’s major cities and towns are well-served with major shopping centres. Volume of new space isn’t what’s required - it’s all about quality and what’s right for today’s market.