UKREiiF hosted a high-level dinner event attended by an assortment of key stakeholders allied to Greater Manchester’s development, investment and economic growth vision last week – building momentum towards UKREiiF in May 2022.

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Capital and Centric’s cloud kitchen at their Kampus scheme- operated by the team behind award winning Tine Restaurant- was the backdrop to a litany of conversations about challenges and opportunities facing the region’s ten boroughs.

While take soundings for UKREIIF content, key topics discussed included creating healthier, smarter, greener place with a close correlation between inclusivity, social value and net zero evident throughout the evening.

Adam Higgins, Co-Founder of Capital and Centric said “Manchester is a thriving city that is rich with development and innovation and we are delighted to be involved with the UKREIIF movement moreover, it’s great to host a group of the city’s key developers on our site”

Signalling the need to challenge the narrative of what growth is, Urban Splash’s Brand Director Orla McGrath was philosophical in her thoughts: “the climate emergency needs to be given more prominence nationally and the role our sector has in delivering net zero is immense. Its time to listen to the next generation of community developers and understand how established regenerators can support delivering places of the future, hopefully UKREIIF will be a truly two-way conversation between national stakeholders and authentic, representative voices from a variety of regions across the UK”

Also among guests was Tom Fenton representing Far East Consortium- who are joint venture partners with Manchester City Council in the £1bn Victoria North regeneration project. He is particularly passionate about taking whole communities with them on their quest to create an exciting series of new neighbourhood in the city, uniting different cultures and people along the Irk River Valley and the proposed City River Park over the next decade.

According to Sarah Ashurst, Salford City Council’s Head of Investment, the ongoing growth of their city is down to “bold and exciting moves made by collaboration between civic leadership and the private sector” and supports the idea of UKREIIF due to the heavy emphasis being placed on diversity and inclusivity across the programme. She commented “the fact free tickets are being given to hundreds of University students and apprentices is a fantastic initiative!”

The University of Salford is home to over 20,000 students from a global community and their ongoing demand for a learning environment that is sensitive to ever changing needs of its students, Jason Challender their Director of Estates understands the benefits of conferences such as UKREIIF: “I first spoke at an event for Built Environment Networking 9 years ago and the quality of attendees and array of talent in the room helped me bring together a transformative estates project in a previous job, UKREIIF will be doing that on a much larger scale and I look forward to being in attendance next May.”

With transformational change underway in Stockport, development mastermind Mark McNamee believes his organisation Cityheart can play a major role in re-imagining Greater Manchester: “we have projects all over the UK and one of our specialties is integrating much needed public services such as healthcare facilities, schools and transport infrastructure into major regeneration. There is a need for a major forum like UKREIIF to help build trust between the public and private sector while sharing ideas on driving inclusive economic growth; it can only help expedite much needed investment across the country!”

As several Greater Manchester boroughs gear up to take part in UKREIIF, Built Environment Networking’s Chief Executive Keith Griffiths was pleased with how the evening played out: “We are still 8 months away from the biggest development and infrastructure conference to ever hit the UK and already over 70 local authorities, 50 blue chip employers and 100+ international investors have pledged their support. Seeing such warmth and enthusiasm from some of Greater Manchester’s developer community only strengthens my resolve that me and my team can play a big part supporting the future of UK PLC.”

Plans are afoot for similar dinners in Bristol, Birmingham, London, Glasgow, Newcastle and Leeds before the end of 2021 and to find out more contact Matt Christie on matt.christie@built-environment-networking.com / 07500873753

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