Cotswolds Designer Outlet: Inside the UK’s biggest retail launch since Battersea.

This year has been one of retail revival, a trend underscored nowhere more clearly than the launch of the Cotswolds Designer Outlet (CDO), the UK’s most significant new large-scale retail development since Battersea Power Station. Located just off Junction 9 of the M5, on the edge of Tewkesbury, this multi-million-pound scheme isn’t just another outlet village. It’s a large-scale retail debut in a market where new developments have been few and far between. And behind it lies a story of ambition, strategic approach and years of determination.

No one is more thrilled than the team behind the scheme: developer Robert Hitchins and asset manager Multi-Realm, which have spent years laying the groundwork to bring the project to life.

To get the full story behind the development, Estates Gazette sat down for an exclusive interview with Simon Tothill, property and development director at Robert Hitchins; Christine Grace, leasing director at Multi-Realm; and Dan Mason, co-founder and managing director at Multi-Realm.

CDO comprises approximately 260,000 sq ft of retail, F&B and leisure space, delivered across the main outlet site and the adjoining Dobbies Garden Centre, which opened in 2022. Phase 1 of the outlet officially launched on 16 July, with 136,000 sq ft of outlet shopping across 54 new stores. The scheme is 98% let.

Plans for Phase 2, which will add a further 50,000 sq ft, are already underway, with the next phase expected to launch next year. Once complete, CDO will feature a total of 75 units.

Housebuilders including Persimmon, Charles Church, Barratt Homes and Vistry are all in the process of delivering over 1,500 new homes, along with community facilities, across the 250-acre site.

A long game

CDO has been a long-held ambition for Robert Hitchins. While the developer is best known for its industrial, logistics and strategic land portfolio, retail has always been part of the conversation.

“The story with Robert Hitchens and the outlet goes back many years,” said Tothill. “We’re a family-run and owned property company… There’s always been the desire.”

That desire became concrete with the acquisition of over 250 acres of land around Junction 9. After receiving outline consent in 2015, the developer spent a decade bringing the scheme forward, investing in new infrastructure, housing, roads and highways, including widening the A46 and delivering two new junctions.

In 2021, Robert Hitchins received full planning approval and has since progressed to detailed design and delivery. The developer also appointed Multi-Realm at that time. CDO has been fully funded internally, and no investment partners were involved.

“We have spent a lot of money and we work very closely with Tewksbury in terms of town centre improvement. We’re also linking the scheme with the town centre through a shuttle bus,” Tothill said.

Quantifying the risk

Launching a retail outlet post-Covid might seem risky, especially when new-build retail schemes are rarer than ever. But for Robert Hitchins, it was all about understanding and managing the risk profile at every stage. “Development always comes with risk. You can only quantify it so much,” Tothill said. “There’s risk in planning, construction, operation. So we broke it down into chunks.”

Having obtained planning consent and completed detailed design, the third and most crucial phase was choosing the right partner. “We’re not an operator,” Tothill said. “We don’t want to be an operator, we’re an investor and developer and we’ll continue to hold this investment going forward. So we looked at the market and appointed Multi-Realm to come on board.”

With Multi-Realm as asset and leasing manager, the development gained traction fast. “We got to a certain percentage [pre-let] which then gave the board and the family confidence… and as it’s grown, they’ve exceeded all expectations,” Tothill said.

The level of 98% pre-letting before launch is no mean feat, particularly given that Multi-Realm entered the project in 2021, just as the retail sector was emerging from the shock of the pandemic. Multi-Realm’s other projects include its role as asset manager of the Quintain-owned London Designer Outlet in Wembley.

“We took this instruction over as we came out of Covid, in what was a really challenging retail time,” Mason said. “Through grit, determination, great contacts and a lot of skill, we’ve been able to deliver what we’ve delivered in terms of the brand line-up.

“But also credit to the developer because they’ve gone out and delivered a real quality piece of real estate… they’ve not cut corners on any of the finishes.

“The branding and the positioning with the Cotswolds imagery and the architectural design – the whole team have done a great job. It’s all come together and it’s really found its niche.”

The line-up

The brand curation process began with research – and plenty of it. “We did a lot of research into what brands we felt would fit in with that target market”, said Grace. “We were given the layout with the units in it, but we spent time mapping where we wanted the sports brands, the more premium section, the cafés, restaurants.”

After that research and analysing data, the team went into the market with a leasing brochure, sharing the vision with the brands, targeting anchor brands first, then building out with premium fashion brands.

“Some brands want to know who else is going,” Grace said. “Once we started to build that momentum, brands who had said ‘no’ at the beginning came back.”

Some were turned away. “If we don’t think they’re right for us, we won’t do the deal,” said Mason. “We want our brands to do really well. We spend a lot of time analysing how a brand is going to perform. It’s a fully aligned partnership.”

One of the biggest challenges during the leasing process was getting brands to commit at the same time and ensuring the right tenant mix came together in time for launch. “That’s probably the biggest challenge,” said Grace. “Making sure we got the mix right and the brands that we really wanted… and making sure it happens on time.”

Despite the pressure, the results exceeded expectations. Multi-Realm’s turnover-based leasing model gives it detailed insight into brand performance, enabling close collaboration with retailers to project sales based on catchment and marketing. This data-driven, in-house approach fosters a strong, hands-on partnership, a key difference from traditional retail.

“Our leasing is in-house. Marketing is in-house. Operations, property management, asset management – it’s all joined up,” Mason said.

Multi-Realm’s approach is data-driven, performance-led and collaborative. “When it comes to talking to the brands about what they want, we fully understand what makes a brand tick, what their margin is going to be, how much rent they can afford because we only want to do rent deals on a sustainable basis,” Mason said.

“The base rent gives the developer a return on their investment but is affordable for the retailer. It’s fundable, it’s sustainable and it works.”

The company tracks daily sales and footfall for every store, which helps it spot what’s working and step in to help if needed. “We collect daily sales data. Every brand has a footfall counter. We know exactly how they’re trading, and we help them improve,” Mason said.

This partnership means both the brands and the outlet benefit. And it’s a model that’s already being followed by big names. “There’s no coincidence that the good shopping centre managers, people like Westfield and Landsec, follow the same sort of model that outlets have been doing for years,” Mason said.

Destination first

CDO isn’t just about brands. It’s about creating a destination, and that meant making design, experience and environment front and centre from day one. When planning the scheme, Robert Hitchins and Multi-Realm began by benchmarking the site against every other outlet across the UK, and quickly realised they had something unique. “We basically sat down with Multi-Realm and we looked at the location, we looked at every other outlet in England and the UK… but we then saw that this is a very special location,” said Tothill.

The team then focused on what made the site stand out, from its position on the edge of Tewkesbury and proximity to other key cities to its natural setting. “As you stand on-site and you look away from the motorway towards the hills – that’s the Cotswolds,” said Tothill.

“We designed a village, a modern take on the Cotswolds. We’re not aping the Cotswold villages, but using materials, rooflines, elevations we think we’ve got there in the first phase,” Tothill added.

With the first phase launched, attention is turning to the 50,000 sq ft phase 2.

“My desire is to have a year of trading and then we’ll start building,” said Tothill. “That doesn’t mean I’m not working on it, we’re already talking to retailers.”

The second phase will focus on fashion, accessories, sports and beauty, with selective F&B additions. “We’ve got a list of 24 F&B brands who want to come in,” said Grace. “We might do two or three, but fashion is the priority.”

More units mean more opportunity, and with demand already outpacing supply, the second phase may launch sooner than expected. Post-launch, the strategy will focus on activation, visibility and keeping footfall high.

“There’ll be lots of entertainment, musicians, floral displays,” said Mason. “It’s going to be a soft opening… we let businesses bed in.”

The site includes an events field, and the team is drawing on its broader portfolio, including London Designer Outlet and Trentham Estate, to deliver event-led footfall. “We’re in the leisure business as much as the retail business,” Mason said. “It’s about creating a day out.”

Tourism is also key. Around 30–40% of turnover is projected to come from visitors outside the immediate catchment. “There are 70m vehicle movements past this site annually,” said Mason. “It’s going to become part of the Cotswolds tourist trail.”

Smiling faces

The launch of CDO comes at a time when outlet retail is not just surviving but outperforming. And its success, built on quality, location and a partnership model, hints at a broader shift in how retail developments are approached.

Reflecting on the rarity of launching a retail development of this scale in today’s market, Mason said: “It’s the first retail scheme since Battersea, and before that St James in Edinburgh… we feel honoured to be part of that process. It’s been a highlight of our recent working years.

“It shows that for the right quality and the right location, there’s strong demand. People want a physical experience. The fear that retail would all go online, that’s been put to bed.”

Outlet retail, in particular, is seeing a demographic shift. “Traditionally, it was for an older customer. That’s no longer the case,” Mason added. “We need to appeal to all ages — and this scheme does.”

For Robert Hitchins, CDO may be a one-off – but it may not. “The stars aligned on this one,” said Tothill. “Never say never… but it’s not the norm for us. We’ll continue to invest in the South West and Midlands, and we’ll see what opportunities arise.”

And what does success look like?

“People with smiles on their faces,” Tothill said. “People saying, ‘Have you been? I really enjoyed it.’ That’s success.”

As seen in Estates Gazette 16th July 2025.