We start with people: who uses a place, how they move through it, how long they will stay, what they value and what they spend. We add the market: catchment, competition, demand and what a location can realistically support.

Thirty years of doing this across airports, mixed-use destinations, retail and hospitality have given us propriety tools and a global benchmark set. They allow clients to decide with confidence what to build, how it will trade and when to reposition.

We are appointed two ways. Directly, as advisers with no design commission attached, when clients need a view they can act on independently. And within design teams, where our analysis shapes design decisions from the first sketch and is checked against them at every stage.

Aviation
For airport operators and investors, our focus is non-aeronautical revenue: passenger flow and dwell, concession mix and unit performance, lounge space and its returns, and how much a terminal can trade before it needs to grow. We also advise on acquisitions, testing an asset’s customer, space and trading performance before a bid is made.

Masterplans, mixed-use, retail and hospitality
We start with highest and best use: what a site can physically and financially support, and which mix of uses creates the most value for the land and the place around it. From there we define the trade area, who the scheme will appeal to, where the space should sit, how it should be sized and positioned, what it should contain, and what it should generate in turnover and rent. The same questions apply to existing assets that need repositioning.

Customer intelligence and market analysis
We find out who a place serves and how they use it. Customer and passenger surveys, segmentation and catchment definition, spend and behaviour research and flow and well studies tell us who is there, who is missing and what they are worth to the scheme.

Commercial strategy and positioning
We define what a place should be and how much it can hold. Highest and best use assessment, space supportable modelling, use mix and market positioning, retail masterplanning and non-aeronautical revenue strategy set the commercial ambition at a level the market will actually support.

Commercial space planning
We advise where space should sit and what is should contain. Adjacency planning, unit sizing and layout, category and merchandise mix, tenant and operator strategy and concession and lounge planning turn a positioning into a plan that can be leased and operated.

Financial modelling and business case assessment
We turn the plan into a forecast that stands up to scrutiny. Turnover and rental income modelling, revenue forecasting for commercial areas and airports, business case development and benchmarking against comparable assets give clients and their funders a forecast they can test against.

Acquisition advisory and portfolio strategy
We test assets before money is committed. Commercial due diligence, bid preparation and investment advisory, portfolio and asset strategy and appraisal of repositioning and adaptive reuse show what an asset is doing now and what it could do under different ownership.