Levelling Up, regeneration, devolution: The UKREiiF conference 2023
Last week the second UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) took place in Leeds and to say the event was a success would be an understatement.
Premiering for the second time, investors and property professionals gathered across a very sunny Leeds Dock for three days to trade ideas and information on the future of the property sector.
The event kicked off in the Royal Armouries Museum as both Lord Bob Kerslake, Chair of the UKREiiF Advisory Board and Lord Dominic Johnson CBE, Investment Minister from the UK government, welcomed delegates. Taking to the stage, determined expressions spread across both of their faces, Kerslake and Johnson addressed issues the property sector has faced, citing the tragic cases of Grenfell Tower and Awaab Ishak, claiming the government must now ‘reset its relationship with the industry’.
Their parting words before handing over to the first speaker, in which they hoped would be echoed throughout the entire event, was that ‘investment is at the core of the sector’ and that if positive change is to happen it is in the hands of those involved.
The first presentation of the day was chaired by Lucy Fisher, Associate of RLB Women’s Community, Rider Levett Bucknall. Lucy was joined by six guests on stage to discuss the vital question: ‘Is Levelling Up working?’. It was particularly interesting to hear from Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire Combined Authority, who stressed how the bidding process isn’t working for cities in the North, urging the government to issue more devolved powers to local authorities. Drawing on examples from how Leeds has lost six bids in the Levelling Up process as well as Bradford, Mayor Brabin said: ‘The government need to urgently think about ditching the bidding process and implement the Trailblazing Scheme as local authorities know what is best for their areas.’
Similarly, Rob Perrins, Chief Executive Officer of the Berkley Group, stated that the current Levelling Up programme fails to consider an output base. He said: ‘The government and local authorities focus on how much money is given out, but we need to consider the actual delivery of projects. Some authorities are granted funds and fail to deliver a regeneration project for around 10 years.’
At this point, Georgia Gould, Chair of London Councils, joined in as she agreed with Rob’s point. On the surface it seems like a good decision to help develop the capital city, however Georgia said the recent Census figures reveal some boroughs in London have the lowest birth rate, deeming the idea to level up areas as pointless, as there wouldn’t be anybody around to benefit from it.
After Lucy, a Q&A style discussion was chaired by Simon Cox, Senior Vice President, and Head of Project Management at Prologis, in which he quizzed property experts on the path to success for sustainable developments. Luba Nikulina (IFM Investors), Jules Pipe CBE (Greater London Authority), Tim Newns (Office for Investment) and Alexa Culver (Environment Bank), were hit with the statistic that real estate contributes to 40% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK and what they thought should done to significantly lower this number. Their responses evidently hit home as more questions were asked than at any other point in the day.
During the event’s lunch break, delegates were given the chance to pick up food and drink from one of the many street food trucks that lined Leeds Dock and chat to exhibitors. Due to the event being so popular – 7,500 delegates had signed up for the three-day event – exhibitor stands were split across two rooms.
After lunch, individuals re-grouped to attend arguably the best talk at this year’s UKREiiF conference. Hosted by Simon Marks, Birmingham City Executive, he claimed the launch of Birmingham’s ‘Our Future City’ framework, which outlines a vast number of regeneration projects that will change the city by 2040, was ‘better than anything you will see at this year’s event.’ These words were taken literally as the talk was the most attended event of the day, with guests having to sit on the floor and stand on the stairs in the theatre due to running out of seats.
Addressing the audience, Simon claimed the new project, is ‘As green as Vienna and as cycle friendly as Copenhagen’ – the project details plans to create 74,000 new jobs and create up to 35,000 new homes for the next generation.
Mark Richardson, Partner and Head of Sustainable Innovation, Troup Bywaters + Anders, closed the day on how the property sector has been impacted by the cost-of-living crisis. Outlining that more sustainable materials need to be used in construction to ensure the sector meets the government’s 2050 Net-Zero target, Mark theorised that this will only be successful if local authorities are granted more funds from the government.
With this message, the first day of the second ever UKREiiF conference came to a close. This year’s event saw 500 speakers spread across the three days and was the most inclusive one to date – over half of the speakers this year were female and others came from ethnic minority backgrounds. As well as this, organisers issued 400 free tickets to students and 700 to people aged under 25 as they believe the next generation hold the key to success in the sector.
The dates for next year’s event have already been confirmed, so if you attended this years or you liked the sound of it from this article, then book your tickets in advance for 21st-23rd May 2024.
Images: Emily Whitehouse