At last a major British real estate convention outside London. Just add water and a bit of sunshine and watch it grow!

From a good angle Leeds, in mid May, can look a little like Cannes, although it’s a bit of a stretch to believe that Leeds Dock is on the Med. However, add some warm, sunny weather, a waterside and it looks pretty good. Throw in around 8,000 real estate folks and you’d be hard pressed to spot the difference with MIPIM: A kind of half a Cannes.

Yes, the UK real estate infrastructure and investment forum, aka UKREiiF, was a success for the organisers, the Built Environment Networking and, from most accounts, was successful for the people who attended too.

The similarity with MIPIM (Le Marché International des Professionnels de L'immobilier) is not accidental. James Parker of BE Networking, the master planner behind UKREiiF, had previously worked for MIPIM – the world’s largest real estate event which takes place in Cannes, France in March. He says that when he “left MIPIM two years ago I had a vision around creating an event in the UK that would compete with the International Real Estate events like MIPIM and Expo Real [in Munich in October]”.

James’ vision for the UK event was that it would be much more diverse and encourage far more attendance and participation by women than “85-90% middle aged white men in dark suits” which would be the case in Cannes. In addition the ‘optics’ of attending an event in Leeds are less difficult for UK local authorities struggling their way through a cost of living crisis.

This year James was pleasantly surprised by the growth of the event which he created and launched in 2022. He said, “I knew we could create this I just didn’t expect that it would happen so quickly or that we would have 7500 people by year two. Based on the growth from year one to year two and looking at the numbers that have signed up already for year three we are expecting 10,000 delegates will attend in 2024.”

On the future of UKREiiF James is very optimistic “with the UK delegation at MIPIM less than half of what it was pre covid it looks like we have created a viable alternative that will only go from strength to strength.”

In reality UKREiiF has got to grow some to properly rival its European competitors in France or Germany which would normally attract 25,000 plus delegates – but this is a major success for the UK and it is early days. The trajectory is definitely upward and for these things momentum is everything. With greater growth to 10,000 people and beyond, the event will start to attract its own international investors and probably greater attention from the UK government as well. Whether Leeds can handle a significantly bigger event is doubtful and the talk at this year’s event is that after next year the event may move to another venue such as Birmingham or Manchester. Moving it around is a good idea anyway.

It was good to see Corridor members Stevenage, in partnership with Watford and Dacorum taking their own stand – promoting their growth ambitions and the opportunities for investment. Other Corridor members (Essex, Hertfordshire plus Epping Forest and Broxbourne – for the Innovation Core) were there, a little less prominently, but taking note and deciding options for next year.

As the event grows it will no doubt build a stronger technology focus which the other big conventions have established. This will play to the strengths of the Corridor and our members. What is obvious from the show already is that most of the country understands that attracting inward investment is a serious and competitive business. The UK has struggled with investment over the past few years this show and our attendance at it is important if we are to regain our position as Europe’s ‘go-to’ place for investors.