ATCM Board Member: Chris Hollins

Company: Director, New Horizon Partnership Management Ltd

As principal of his company “New Horizon Limited” for the last seven years, Chris has continued the work he was actively engaged in for the previous ten years whilst in the property and planning division of Boots The Chemists.

Chris was Scotland’s first Town Centre Manager in the days when there were only a handful of TCMs in the UK. Working closely with the private sector, Falkirk District Council, Central Region Council and the Scottish Development Agency, he created a unique and innovative partnership that still continues to flourish as one of several successful schemes in Scotland.

Co-operating closely with other national retailers, property owners and managing agents, Chris had a considerable reputation for establishing Town or City Centre partnerships with metropolitan, borough and county authorities, setting up, guiding and monitoring their operations to ensure a realistic and focused response to change. Notable publications that Chris has been responsible for or co-edited include Caring for our Towns and Cities, The Recruitment, Selection and Induction Training of TCMs, About Town, and Safety in the City.

As a founding member of the Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM), Chris was instrumental in driving through the acceptance of the concept within both two Houses of Parliament and recognition of it in the planning guidance provided by the Department of Local Government, Transport and the Regions, and the Scottish Executive. He has met delegations from Germany, Sweden, Spain and Belgium interested in the concept and has made visits to Japan and Israel to help them establish active TCM roles in the style in the UK.

While still sought after to lead interviewing panels for the recruitment process in the major destinations of the UK, Chris now spends most of his time promoting good practice from location to location and conducting local reviews for many of the 500+ TCM schemes now in place in the UK. Currently the shaping and delivery of Business Improvement Districts across the UK and the creation of an innovative KPI monitoring mechanism are taking precedence in a busy work schedule.