EC Harris says building a shopping centre in the UK is more expensive than anywhere else in Europe

It costs more to build a shopping centre in the UK than anywhere else in Europe according to research by consultant EC Harris.

The firm鈥檚 latest European focus show that Switzerland and the Netherlands come close behind the UK and that Ireland and Sweden are also among the top spenders.

In Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria and Romania construction costs are far less although EC Harris pointed out that this could be because levels of specification and urban regeneration are often lower in these less developed markets.

Mike Pearce, senior European partner for EC Harris, said: 鈥淭he perception of shopping centre development has changed over the past decade. In the UK the challenge is to integrate mixed use development skills and the needs of city centre regeneration, while across much of mainland Europe the trend has been towards large edge of town shopping centres that have grown in size significantly over the period.鈥�