intu, the leading owner, developer and manager of some of the UK's favourite shopping centres, today launched its fourth economic impact report, commissioned from Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners, and assured by Corporate Citizenship* at a reception at the House of Lords.

The report findings demonstrate the significant contribution that intu continues to make through its 19 regional shopping centres to local communities across the UK. Key findings include:

  • intu centres are major employers in most of the regions where they operate accounting for some 115,000 jobs nationwide
  • Almost 4% of the UK's total retail workforce are employed within an intu centre, directly supporting a wage bill of £1.5bn
  • intu Lakeside is the biggest local employer, accounting for over 8 % of all employment in the area
  • Future investment plans over the next 10 years will generate an additional 23,000 jobs
  • Total economic contribution during 2014 of £3.5 billion GVA** (Gross Value Added)

"It's not widely understood how big a business running shopping centres actually is," said David Fischel, chief executive. "Our centres welcome more people every Saturday than all of England's Premier League football matches put together, and support 115,000 jobs across the UK. intu Lakeside, for example, delivers over 8% of total employment in the local area, and intu Metrocentre accounts for 7.5%.This report assesses the positive economic impact of intu centres through a host of activities including the day to running of the centres, our development pipeline and business rates.

intu is one of only 52 companies to have achieved the BitC CommunityMark, and it works closely with communities to actively support local charities and projects. Last year 1,200 people were positively impacted by community projects, with intu staff committing 4,500 hours.

The company was also awarded the Carbon Trust Standard Award for 'Best in continuing carbon reduction' in 2014 in recognition of its 30% reduction in carbon emissions. intu is focused on protecting the environmen t and now diverts 97% of waste from across the portfolio from landfill.

Regional breakdowns are also available at intugroup.co.uk/responsibility

*Corporate Citizenship has provided an independent assurance of the methodology used in the report, evaluating it against GRI Principles for Ensuring Report Quality. Corporate Citizenship's full assurance statement and commentary can be found in the Responsibility section of Intu's website. The data points in this document are presented in terms of gross impact which does not take into account the degree to which economic outcomes are net additional (or would occur in the absence of the Intu asset).

** GVA (Gross Added Value) is the measure of the value of the goods and services produced in the economy

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