Touchwood Shopping Centre

Touchwood Shopping Centre opened in October 2001 at The Square in Solihull town centre, West Midlands, with approximately 85,000 sqm of gross leasable area as the principal enclosed regional shopping centre for Solihull and the South Birmingham commuter belt. The centre is owned by Aviva Investors as the dominant retail anchor for one of England’s most consistently affluent suburban communities.

Solihull’s commercial distinctiveness lies in the consistent positioning of the town as one of the most prosperous large towns in the West Midlands: household incomes in the Solihull Borough are the highest of any metropolitan district in the West Midlands, driven by the proximity of Jaguar Land Rover’s engineering and manufacturing operations at Lode Lane and by the concentration of professional services, financial, and commercial employment in the Birmingham Airport and National Exhibition Centre business corridor. John Lewis operates one of its most productive stores in the UK at Touchwood, anchoring the premium retail positioning. Marks & Spencer, H&M, Zara, and a fashion and lifestyle tenant mix oriented toward Solihull’s above-average spending capacity complete the anchor programme. Vue Cinema serves the leisure occasion. The pedestrianised Solihull High Street and the surrounding independent retail circuit complement rather than compete with the enclosed mall format.

Solihull’s population of approximately 215,000 provides the immediate base. The South Birmingham catchment from Shirley, Hall Green, and Acocks Green, and the North Warwickshire communities of Knowle and Dorridge, extend the affluent suburban draw. Solihull Railway Station provides direct Birmingham Moor Street and Birmingham New Street connections within 15 minutes. The M42 Junction 5 provides motorway access from the national network.

Aviva Investors manages Touchwood as the premium Midlands retail asset in its portfolio. The John Lewis anchor is commercially the most important single tenant in the centre: it establishes the premium positioning that justifies the above-average tenant quality throughout the mall and attracts the Solihull consumer base whose spending capacity makes this one of the most productive medium-sized regional malls in the West Midlands.