Everything Old is New Again

Australia’s first real shopping centre opened its doors in Chermside in Brisbane in 1957, just a year after this writer was born, a long time ago on both counts. The revolutionary concept was described as an American phenomenon with a massive 25 retailers in one centre surrounded by a sea of car parking. Laughable today when you consider the size of your average local Westfield. From that day forward, however, shopping habits of Australians have morphed into a completely different way of shopping. In years to come, it will change even further.

In 2021, and at 12,000,000 square feet, (yes, that’s 12 million square feet) Dubai Mall is considered the world’s largest shopping centre and I’ve been lucky enough to visit it. This inspiring and frankly scary destination would challenge even the most diehard of shoppers amongst us with over 1,200 retail outlets and over 200 food and beverage destinations – that should keep the worst shopping fanatic satisfied. With a massive indoor aquarium and underwater world which adjoins the cloud piercing, plane deviating Burj Khalifa, you can shop till you drop then stay in obscene luxury, gazing at the haze filled artificial city that has sprouted from the ancient sands like a mirage from The Arabian Nights.

Australian shopping centres are also making the move to reinvent themselves today as they combat online retailing which threatens the bricks and mortar experience and, of course, the buzz word we are now forced to live with, COVID 19. Chadstone in leafy Victoria is Australia’s largest centre at a minuscule 1,398,490 square feet (just to put things in perspective). Major retail centres no longer focus on just retail outlets. We have seen the move as online addiction influences our shopping habits. Just look at anyone with a smart phone in hand and see how our habits are changing before our eyes. And it’s not just shopping.

Here in Western Australia, Karrinyup Shopping Centre was built in 1973 with several face-lifts and expansions in the ensuing years. It has just completed an $800m plus upgrade and expansion to 1,216,321 square feet (giving Chadstone a run for its money) and, if I can be parochial for a moment, on a per capita basis, Karrinyup will certainly be the largest in Australia.

Focusing more on a lifestyle and entertainment design, Karrinyup, like most new retail constructions globally, allows patrons to enjoy all new and comprehensive dining and beverage options including an all new alfresco dining area. Along with new cinema experiences, a large piazza and main boulevard incorporating new lifestyle, leisure and entertainment destinations.

But of course, with such a large development, signage is always required and Kingman Visual won the contract for the seven figure signage upgrade including replacing the main iconic pylon sign Kingman originally built in 2011.

The new pylon is a much cleaner, contemporary design but still imposing at 15.5 metres tall and almost 5 metres wide. It would be easy to rest on your laurels behind such a monolith of a sign but add an additional 4,500 additional signs, and this becomes more of a logistical and construction marathon. Projects such as this don’t just happen at the awarding of the tender process, rather it is just the starting gun in a metamorphosis of a neighbourhood comfort zone. Retail precincts have had to fight back against the online shopping habits of Australians and the demand for more entertainment and experience driven locales.

In addition, this plethora of destinations within destinations is the challenge for the modern sign company. Why you might ask, and a fair and reasonable question too? The owners, AMP Capital along with iconic builders Multiplex, have exacting standards for signage to match their vision for a 21st century experience. This means many changes in design and functionality to the signage program, at times even after the signs have been built or even installed. Whilst at the time it seems frustrating, it only becomes crystal clear when you visit the site and see why the designers have made changes. As plans change during the build, for a multitude of reasons, so does the design requirement.

Along with many new age buildings, getting power to some of these newly identified sites, that have now been defined as signage zones (after the fact) always presents massive challenges – with some power runs extending to over 100 metres of brand new building fronts. As with all new centre openings, there is no quarter given in making the changes required and expecting installation as per the existing contract. That expectation comes with the territory when taking on such colossal projects and why many smaller companies flounder under such pressure. Another reason why major builders include liquidated damages within their contracts. I confess to suffering from bouts of fear every time I have had to sign a contract that had thousands of dollars per day of liquidated damages. But I am lucky enough (and organised enough), to have never been found falling into those murky waters. It does present concerns for smaller and emerging sign companies entering into the larger construction contracts as liquidated damages could very easily destroy a smaller company, or at the very least, cause significant losses.

If you considering tendering for larger projects, be aware of your contractual obligations. Be confident in your ability to build what may be thousands of signs in a given period and be certain you have the staff to make ad hoc changes that may happen, or should I say, will happen.

I am not suggesting emerging businesses do not tender for large contracts, far from it, but consider the ramifications. Consider your real ability to meet the practical completion date. If you don’t manufacture in house, I would suggest to either avoid large contracts or gear up for 100% in-house manufacture. That way you can control your ability to build.

After all, how do smaller and emerging businesses become large businesses? It’s like eating an elephant, one bite at a time. Go for it.

Written By Vernon Kingman