Are you going to MIPIM? BE News is – and here’s why

Next week, the UK real estate industry will descend on Cannes for the international jamboree that is MIPIM – but it would be an exaggeration to say it is descending en masse.

When asked in a recent Twitter poll if they were going, 55% of respondents said ‘no’ and just 45% said ‘yes’, which tallies with what I have found. Of those not going, some tell me they stopped attending a few years ago – “I realised I wasn’t getting any deals done” is a typical response. Others say that amid a cost-of-living crisis, the optics aren’t right. Some feel it is too expensive.

With one or more of these factors in mind, many have seemingly chosen between MIPIM and UKREiiF in Leeds and picked the latter. As a media partner to UKREiiF, BE News will be heading to Leeds, too. But first, we will be going to Cannes – despite the cost – and here’s why.

At BE News, our mission is to cover the entire built environment industry and to bring you relevant international as well as UK news, views and analysis. We also want to understand and write about the UK market in a global context. The reality is that there is no other event that can boast such a global delegate list or facilitate such high-level international debate, and that’s primarily what we’re going for: the high-level debate.

While I’m there, I will be moderating two panel debates and chairing two roundtable discussions. As many of you will know, important work is currently underway on the potentially game-changing Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard. BE News is delighted to be supporting the initiative as media partner and on Wednesday 15 March, I will be co-hosting a lunchtime debate on ‘The Standard’ with David Partridge, chair of the NZCBS governance board. I’m pulling together my briefing notes now, so if you would like to put a question to our guests – a mixture of stakeholders and interested parties – email me at liz@benews.co.uk and I will.

On Wednesday evening, I’ll be having my second three-course meal of the day (note to self: must eat light on Tuesday) when I host a dinner debate pitting the ‘original’ entrepreneurs against the ‘new wave’ in what promises to be a lively discussion on strategy, the market, the political and economic outlook and what it takes to be a true entrepreneur.

On Thursday, Partridge will be joining me again, this time as a panellist, for a 10am debate on how the industry measures, reports and embed ESG into its operations. At 2pm, I’ll be moderating a second panel debate, asking another important ESG-related question: How can retrofitting ensure the avoidance of stranded assets?

In the meantime, there’s no rest for the wicked. This Wednesday, I’ll be taking part in an informal discussion, chaired by Jo Cowen, chief executive of Jo Cowen Architects, to mark International Women’s Day. Alongside Jo McNamara, executive vice president of Oxford Properties, and Debra Yudolph, partner at SAY Consulting, we will be talking about our businesses and our career highs and lows. If you’d like to join us, contact gabriela.w@jocowenarchitects.com. But be quick – numbers are strictly limited.

And next week, if you are at MIPIM and spot me or my colleagues Simon Creasey and Sian Wilde, do stop and say hello!

Give us your feedback

Whether you’re heading to the south of France or not, we’d love to hear your feedback on BE News and our new daily newsletter, BE Alert. If you haven’t registered yet, it’s easy – just go to www.benews.co.uk – and it’s free! Let us know what you think.