THE new boss of Westquay landlord Hammerson is considering other uses for empty shops after revealing a £354million loss for the first half of this year.

Hammerson, which also owns London’s Brent Cross and Birmingham Bullring, laid out a growth strategy under which it would seek more opportunities away from retail.

The property giant said it planned to “reinvigorate” its assets and drive growth, filling its empty retail units with a variety of offers in a bid to improve footfall.

Rita-Rose Gagne, who joined the firm as chief executive late last year, said this could include food halls, events spaces and roof-top theatres to boost trade in the short term.

However, she said the firm would also repurpose some void retail spaces for alternative uses such as homes, hotels and office space.

Hammerson said it saw a particularly strong opportunity to pursue this shake-up across its current department store space, where it has more than 800,000sq ft of empty space or short-term leases.

“As we emerge from a unique moment in time, I see a pathway to create sustainable value as we transform the business to become more agile and able to anticipate and respond to this change,” said Ms Gagne.

“We own flagship destinations around which we can curate and reshape entire neighbourhoods and city centre spaces for generations to come.”

The group posted a pre-tax loss of £354m for the six months to June.

It saw a 6.4 per cent decrease in the value of its portfolio to around £5.5billion.

The firm suggested it was on the path to recovery following the pandemic but highlighted that it would continue to feel the impact of the rent moratorium for tenants, which was recently extended until March.

The policy, which bans landlords taking tenants to court over unpaid rent, “has led to some retail businesses openly ignoring their rental obligations when they have the means to pay”, the company said.

It said the government “continues to undermine the attractiveness of the sector and its investment case” through the extension. it also called for a major overhaul of business rates.