Softer centres

West End Quay and other developers such as Crest, St James and Wilcon are seeing the value of treating customers to a shopping experience. They are all launching retail style outlets or marketing suites where purchasers can choose from a large range of homes, locations and fittings in pleasant, relaxing surroundings.

Allan Leighton, chairman of Wilson Connolly, and former chief executive of Asda and Wal-Mart Europe believes this customer-focused approach is long overdue. "Sales centres remind me of the kind of places you would stop off at to buy a burger on the motorway. The industry as a whole is very poor on this." Developer St James' new 10 000 sq ft marketing suite at Kew Riverside, west London, is designed to appeal to buyers with up to £1.2m to spend on one of around 400 apartments and houses on site.

Customers enter by a hall featuring a glass rotunda and containing a water wall, plasma screens and a blue mosaic tiled swimming pool. On the first floor visitors are greeted by a heavenly image of Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis. It features a lounge area, bespoke studio and nine consultants sitting at iMac computers to offer advice on floor plans, property sizes and locations. There is a viewing area offering a virtual reality fly-through.

There is also an interactive model, information panels and a trompe l'oeil mural of a mews. Further highlights are the one and two-bed show apartments, lavishly furnished by fashion designer Bruce Oldfield who has also finished two of the five show houses on site.

"By going a little bit further with the sales and marketing suite customers will feel we're going a lot further with the homes themselves," says Ian Hughes, sales and marketing director.

He also believes that the staff should feel as comfortable in the surroundings as the customers. Above the marketing suite there are offices for up to six staff and the ambience is more hotel than office. There is a kitchen, shower and washing areas where employees can change into their William Hunt designer suits. "We try to cater for the staff from a lifestyle point of view," says Hughes.

West End Quay is opening a 3000 sq ft sales centre in March next to its Paddington Basin scheme. The 9 m-high steel-framed structure costing £500 000 is an attempt to stamp the developer's brand on the area and demonstrate the smart technology and modern design on offer in the development.

"We want to draw customers in and give them a retail experience. Sales offices are like estate agents - very dry. We want to create a buzz," says West End Quay's Bennett.

Customer attractions will include a Costa Coffee franchise, a 5 m-high water feature and moat, and interactive smart home areas. There will also be four pods containing brochures and CDs, a demo area for seven smart home packages, and areas showing the kitchen and bathroom options. On the exterior walls images and lighting will announce West End Quay's arrival to the locality.

There will be no desks for sales negotiators. "We are trying to move away from the pressure of a sales office. We don't mind people coming in just to look around," says Bennett. Sales people will hot desk instead, taking their laptops to wherever purchasers are seated.

Outside London, Crest has invested in two large stand-alone marketing suites at Ingress Park in Greenhithe, Kent and Port Marine in Portishead, Bristol. The latter is a modern glass building surrounded by water and costing £750 000 to build. It features consultation rooms, banks of computers, models, mock-ups of typical kitchens, bedrooms and lounges, and a viewing area that overlooks the whole site.

It has been built without internal walls, so in the future it can be reconfigured and used as a restaurant or community facility for the completed development.

Of course not all homebuilders have huge developments that justify building expensive marketing suites. Some developers are finding they can raise their profile and customers by opening retail centres off site.

Copthorn Homes' marketing director Neil Armstrong experienced retail selling, American style, when he visited Orange County, California in December. He was struck by the value Laing Homes was able to generate through a retail unit. The centre caters for the marketing needs of all developments in the area and has a large range of customer options and choices.

Armstrong says Copthorn was pondering opening an options and choices shop last year but it was the US experience that finally persuaded him. "They earn an extra 20% revenue on each house," he says.

In the UK Armstrong reckons that customers will be prepared to travel 20 miles from a development to a retail centre if they know they are going to have an enjoyable experience choosing specifications for their new home.

"It's not just about choosing cabinets and tiles either," says Armstrong. "We want our customers to sit down with an interior designer and landscape architect and discuss how they want their home to look. They will be given a palette and blank canvas which we will help them work with. For us it's a revenue product." Copthorn Homes is currently looking at a town centre location near the M25 in Essex, and Armstrong predicts it will be up and running by June. The premises would be a joint venture with the North Thames region of Countryside, Copthorn's parent.

Copthorn wouldn't be the first homebuilder to rub shoulders with High Street stores. Linden Homes' shop in Hale has been open for business for a year. The retail space holds details of developments in the North West and property shop manager Gillian Tomlinson says it has helped to raise Linden's profile in the area. Customers can also choose their kitchens in Hale, as a kitchen shop nearby has 25 Linden Homes kitchens on display.

Wilson Connolly also has a town centre shop in Northampton to advertise its new brand, The Lifebuilding Company, and sell homes on its nearby St James development. It's part retail, part exhibition and the aim is to become known as a brand associated with a quality retail experience.

In Manchester, loft pioneer Urban Splash has a permanent retail outlet called the Loft Shop. As well as researching information on current and future Urban Splash developments, customers can also get advice on solicitors, mortgages, fit outs and architects.

One of the advantages of a permanent location is that you can invest in it, says Armstrong. "In the long-term your retail employees will achieve a higher skill level. At the moment sales consultants are turning their hand to it for six months."