Brownfield retail construction is evolving. Customers expect stores to remain open, and retailers can’t afford lengthy closures. Landlords want projects delivered with as little disruption as possible. With less new-build retail and more refurbishment, from flagship department stores to airport precincts, construction increasingly needs to happen while business carries on.

Our Queensland team is currently delivering the new Uniqlo flagship fitout in Brisbane’s busy Queen Street Mall. It’s a good example of what retailers are asking for today. The mall stays open and trading throughout, and the challenge isn’t simply delivering the fitout. It’s doing it without getting in the way of the thousands of people moving through the precinct every day.

That’s the expectation across retail.

At Mainbrace, we’ve delivered projects in some of Australia’s busiest live environments, including the new David Jones ‘Store of the Future’ in Chatswood Chase and the Heinemann luxury retail fitout at Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 in Sydney Airport. While each project comes with its own challenges, the principle is always the same. Construction has to fit around the environment because the environment doesn’t stop for construction.

Balancing every priority

Every live retail project comes with a wide circle of interests attached to it. Retailers are focused on their customers and keeping stores trading. Landlords are thinking about lease commitments and asset performance. Centre management is responsible for everyone who walks through the precinct and every one of them has a legitimate stake in how the project runs.

The builder sits in the middle of those priorities.

Success comes from understanding what matters to each stakeholder and keeping communication consistent from the earliest planning discussions through to handover. When everyone understands the programme, staging and potential impacts before work begins, issues are far easier to resolve before they affect the project.

This is one of the strongest arguments for early contractor involvement. Bringing a builder into the project before the design is finalised allows practical construction challenges like access, staging, deliveries and hoarding to be resolved while there is still flexibility to make coordinated, considered changes. By the time construction starts, many of the more complex scenarios have already been optimised with all stakeholders in mind.

The customer experience doesn’t pause

One of the biggest misconceptions about retail construction is that the project becomes the priority once work starts – it doesn’t.

The priority is making sure customers can continue using the space as though construction isn’t happening around them. People don’t lower their expectations because there’s hoarding in place. They still expect stores to be easy to access and the environment to be safe and welcoming.

That’s something we’ve seen firsthand at David Jones in Chatswood Chase. Delivering a premium fitout across two trading levels while the store continued trading for the majority of the works meant the shopping experience had to stay front of mind at every stage, not just the construction programme. More than 70 contractors and over 200 individual brand fitouts moved through a single loading dock, sequenced around trading hours so customers barely noticed the work behind the hoarding.     

Experience shapes better decisions

No two live environments operate the same way but the common thread is that people continue moving through those environments regardless of what’s happening behind the hoarding.

That thinking was what we deployed at Sydney Airport’s Terminal 2 and 3 luxury precinct fitout for Heinemann. Passenger movements in Australia’s busiest airport don’t stop because construction starts. Security requirements remain uncompromising and access windows are limited, so every activity needs to be carefully coordinated around an operating terminal. 

Experience is the judgement to ask the right questions early, and plan work around the way people use the space.

Confidence comes from proven delivery

As retailers continue investing in store refurbishments and flagship destinations, working successfully in live environments is an expectation. Meeting that expectation, though, is still a specialist skill and one that is built through years of experience.

Retailers want confidence that construction won’t distract from trading. That takes a builder who understands how live environments work. When customers remember the store and not the construction, we’ve done our job.

Learn more at mainbrace.com.au.

About the author: Daniel Morelli is head of Small Works at Mainbrace Constructions.