At points yesterday in the main conference zone at UKREiif it felt like you were in the midst of a cup final. It was crowded, it was hot and at times it was unwieldy. Yet it was also exciting seeing so many faces old and new and there’s huge positivity on show with many Local Authorities proactively promoting their places.
I dipped into a number of the new combined authority area pavilions to hear about regions getting increasingly organized and focused on the growth agenda. The new Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough spoke passionately about engineering growth across his new patch. No matter what your politics you couldn’t help but think regional mayors will be a positive for inward investment.
Bidwell’s ubiquitous Iain Murray held Murray’s Megatrends – a fascinating seminar on living trends. Single Family Housing is now capturing 45% of all investment and is the big winner. The opportunities and the viability of multifamily – where the big numbers can be achieved in terms of housing growth are in decline in part due to the Building Safety Act. On the positive, there is much more geographical distribution of investment with Core Cities like Leeds winning new investment. The days of London dominating have gone. Indeed it was a warning, the Capital has competition.
On the subject of Leeds, I attended a Pinsent Masons and Cratus dinner where the Deputy Leader of the city talked passionately of the improvements taking place. He claimed no where was consenting more homes than his city and if other areas followed Leeds example the nation would hit the 1.5 million homes target. Lots of conversation about combining infrastructure, planning and politics with new Mayors. London wasn’t to be forgotten with Lambeth’s Rob Bristow making some important insights about how we could improve upon the Building Safety Act and work through stuck consents.
Overall, it felt a good first day. Lots of issues being broached and a can do spirit pervading the conference. A great start.
