It’s been an incredible few weeks preparing to return our colleagues, retailers and customers back to a safe environment here at Teesside Park.

Of course, we remained open throughout the lockdown period so that our essential stores could serve the needs of our local community, but gearing up for the arrival of many more colleagues and customers has required a huge amount of planning and close collaboration with our retail partners.

We worked around the clock on preparing all 84,000 sq ft. of our space to function effectively in our ‘new normal’.

There have of course been some challenges, but I’m so proud of how the team has pulled together to overcome these, and their hard work has certainly shown in the past weeks. From their tireless support for our retail partners, to how they’ve stepped up and taken on new roles to help us safely reopen essential facilities such as toilets and maintain our enhanced cleaning regimes, I couldn’t have asked for more from them.

As with the majority of sites across the portfolio, the biggest logistical challenge for us was to implement measures to manage social distancing. We have excellent relationships with our retail partners and it’s those relationships that allowed us to confidently and effectively do this.

We have installed signage across the park to support social distancing and carefully manage queues outside of our stores. We also provided our retail partners with detailed guidance – and a listening ear – to help them to get their own systems in place, and worked through any challenges together.

So how did it go on day one? While we knew we were fully prepared, I don’t think any of us had a good night’s sleep on Sunday! We headed to the park earlier than usual, had our team briefings, and were ready and waiting as the car park opened.

It was fantastic to welcome more of our shoppers back to Teesside Park, and I know that I speak for the whole team when I say how rewarding it was to see how well everyone responded to the new measures we put in place.

The journey of course doesn’t end here. We’re keeping all of our systems under close review and we’re ready to adapt them wherever necessary to keep up with the ever-evolving demands posed by COVID-19, and ensure that we continue to keep all of our colleagues, customers and retailers safe.

Following the government’s latest announcement on the reopening of restaurants and cafes, our focus is now firmly on supporting them in their preparations.

Though we know there’s a lot of hard work to be done, armed with our experience from the last few months, I’m confident we’re in a position to rise to the challenges ahead.