A Night to Remember

The SCEPTRE Awards last night was a fantastic evening, celebrating the success of the talented individuals in the shopping centre management industry and the teams behind the scenes. The Dorchester is a great location for such a night, a grand and historic venue on Park Lane overlooking Hyde Park. The original 1930’s décor was complimented by Seasonal Group and Global Concept’s fabulous illuminated installations!

As ever at this time of year, the weather was hot and stuffy and London was typically humid, but luckily the hospitality team at The Dorchester kept the champagne flutes topped up (something I am sure many of you are regretting today!) and the drinks reception was bustling with the anticipation for the evening and excitement to hear the runners-up and winners. What was particularly great this year was all the new faces at the event, a real sign the industry is continuing to grow and go from strength to strength.

Graham Parker, Editor of Shopping Centre Magazine opened the evening and welcomed us all to the event, and evening entertainment was delivered by Comedian Ian Moore before our host Bill Turnbull joined us to present the awards.

I do not envy the judging panel… there is some serious talent in the industry right now with some extremely strong contenders in each category. Genuinely, well done to all of you who were nominated – it is a huge accolade and a testament to the hard work you do. Without you, these centres would not be the welcoming, safe, enlivening environments they are that see communities and tourists return again and again.

Without further ado… (drumroll please)

The winners are:

• Commercialisation Innovation of the Year: intu (POP! by MACKNEY)
• Retail Liaison Management Award: Diana Nabagereka, London Designer Outlet
• Manager of the Year – Small Centre: Charles Barratt, Merlin’s walk
• Manager of the Year – Medium Centre: Nikki Wilson Cook, Market Place Bolton
• Manager of the Year – Large Centre: Liam Smith, Fort Kinnaird
• All Ireland Manager of the Year: Marion Acreman, MacDonagh Junction
• Marketing Manager of the Year: Phil Maclean, The Valley Shopping Centre
• Operations Manager of the Year: Lee Holland, The Glades
• Young Achiever of the Year: Michael Dennison, Manchester Arndale
• Short Term Retailer of the Year; Mountain Salts, CastleCourt Shopping Centre
• Energy Management Award:Middleton Grange Shopping Centre
• Waste Management Award: intu Trafford Centre
• Security Team of the Year: Westfield London Shopping Centre
• Customer Service Team of the Year: Gunwharf Quays

And a big well done to CBRE for being awarded the SCETPRE Grand Prix as the business with the most winners under their management! Carolyn Mantle, UK Retail Operations Director, stepped up to claim their award and this was suitably preceded by a CBRE team huddle, chant and pictures on stage.

It was great to see so much diversity in the winners with a number of the smaller operators also deservedly claiming awards. Myself and the rest of the Foundation Recruitment Shopping Centre Management team had a great evening and we hope our guests did too! We were fortunate to welcome Nick Hilton from Workman, Chris Church from Cushman & Wakefield, and Sonia Grant Yendell and Nicola Hester from intu Properties to join us at our table.

Nick Hilton, Partner at Workman: “It’s always a fun night at The SCEPTRE Awards – well done to all the winners & thank you to Foundation Recruitment! The Dorchester is a great venue for The Awards! Well done to all nominee’s, runners-up and winners.  It’s a great evening celebrating all the success in the industry – especially that of Workman Retail managed schemes.  It’s exciting to see so much new innovation coming into the market! Thanks to everyone who attended for a wonderful evening!”

We are already looking forward to next year’s event – the competition starts again now!

Shaunagh Durkin, Shopping Centre & Venue Management, Foundation Recruitment