Approaching my first visit to Leeds’ premiere real estate event this week, I was filled with anticipation. Not only was it my first UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF). But also a trip down memory lane in a city where I completed my economics undergraduate degree.

Nostalgia aside, UKREiiF underlines the importance of local fora to promote investment in a space that unites the industry’s most important stakeholders, from investors and developers to public officials, architects and consultants. It also shows how a rapidly growing event like UKREiiF — at which attendance has more than trebled from 3900 in 2022 to 13,200 this year — can increase awareness of a city (Leeds) and its need for more infrastructure development.

It has a big act to follow. Now in its third year, UKREiiF is constantly contrasted with Mipim, Europe’s largest real estate gathering which has run since 1990. “What do you think?” asked many attendees at the May 21-23 UK event at the Royal Armories Museum. Many of my conversations with investor and public official contacts, both old and new, inevitably involved the comparison. And the verdict?

“It’s Mipim with Tesco sandwiches and umbrellas,” wryly commented one comms professional, referring to a popular UK supermarket lunch option and torrential rain on the second day. UKREiiF has more “white bread sandwiches than paté with French baguette”, joked a major UK real estate investor. The purely domestic focused event was analogous to the UK’s post-Brexit detachment from Europe, said another.

But these analogies are more crass than serious. UKREiiF at Leeds Dock might not have the glitz and glamour of Mipim’s French Riviera setting. But there are good reasons and space for both events to exist.

Firstly, it is far more palatable for UK local authorities, both small and large, to travel and pay for a presence in Leeds rather than Cannes. This is not just to avoid news stories claiming taxpayers’ money is being irresponsibly spent by public officials at Mipim. 

Given the constraints on local UK public finances, including several councils recently going bust, there need to be events for local authorities to present their development plans to property developers, investors and consultants without the noise of authorities from across the channel. 

Investment promotion agencies (IPAs) from UK cities that regularly attend Mipim, including London, Newcastle, Cardiff, Belfast and Liverpool, all attended this year’s UKREiiF. But so too did IPAs from smaller towns and cities like Blackpool, Hull and Ipswich, as well as regions like Cheshire and Warrington, Cornwall and Staffordshire. 

Leeds’s moment

UKREiiF also highlighted the economic benefits for hosting events and how they make a case for further investment. Leeds, a vibrant city that I will forever be fond of, was bursting at the seams. Hotel rooms close to the event were in short supply and, in some cases, prohibitively expensive. 

Indeed there are plans to make Leeds better prepared for major events like UKREiiF. A Vision for Leeds report published in March 2024 by the UK government commits funding “to understand the potential impact of expanding the [Royal Armories] facilities to become a premier conference venue”. There is potential for a “significant increase in space and essential infrastructure” including hotels, restaurants and external event space, noted the report. 

Inevitably, local issues dominated the UKREiiF agenda, including planning, transportation and power infrastructure. Plans for a snap UK general election were coincidentally announced on the second day. Developers told me they hope for a definitive majority, irrespective of whichever party wins, to create more certainty to invest after years of political chaos overshadowing the UK’s investment promotion policy.

Some at UKREiiF spoke as if the opposition Labour party’s lead in the opinion polls meant an election win was a foregone conclusion. Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy prime minister, made her case on UKREiiF’s first day for why her party was what the country needs to build more housing and get the “economy back on track”. Conservative leaders like investment minister Lord Dominic Johnson also featured prominently at the event.

For IPAs across the UK, the property shindig in Leeds gave an opportunity to promote their development plans and convince investors to commit money to their communities. UKREiiF is more than just Mipim with Tesco sandwiches. It’s a local platform that is needed both now and in the future.