Hammerson's head of credit control, Duncan Grubb, said he believed the spate of major retail company voluntary arrangements had now ended.

Speaking at Estates Gazette's Retail Summit 2013, Grubb said: "I think we have been the last of the big CVAs. The accepted view is that the CVA is an orderly wind-down.

"The model has plateaued. La Tasca, the last CVA, cherry-picked the best sites."

Grubb said the criticism of past CVAs was that they had not done enough to help as some retailers had subsequently collapsed.

PwC's Deborah Parker added: "CVAs don't address the underlying business. I'm yet to be convinced that they work in the retail environment."