Ian Watt, managing director of Old Mutual Properties, has been appointed chairman of the Retail Real Estate World Summit to be held by the International Council of Shopping Centres (ICSC) in Istanbul from April 20 to 22, 2005.

The ICSC, the global trade association of the shopping centre industry, has 44,000 members in some 80 countries.

Announcing the appointment, Watt said the business of the summit will be of great significance to South African property people.

"It will examine the responsibility of shopping centres in creating work and in uplifting communities. It will also address key issues of how city centres can be repopulated and how the movement of people further away from existing city centres can be arrested. It will look at cost-effective construction and how existing infrastructure can beneficially be used.

"These are highly topical issues in an age of down-sizing, retrenchments, right-sizing, outsourcing and off-shoring - the process of shifting jobs from one location to another elsewhere in the world."

Watt added that it was hoped to attract delegations from each of the countries represented within the membership, given the significance of the topics. Individuals and representatives of companies will also be invited to participate.

Details of keynote speakers will be announced by the council in the next few months.

I-Net Bridge 11 March 2004