UK Property Forums consultant Hugh Blaza reports from three days in Leeds where the Oxford to Cambridge corridor was on display to the country at UKREiiF.

What happens when 15,000 people with an interest in, if not passion for, real estate in all its many guises, converge on a major northern city in bright spring sunshine?

UKREiiF, the UK’s biggest annual property conference, is what you get.

UK Property Forums managing director Matthew Battle and I attended all three days and were knocked over by the sheer scale and positive vibe of the event.

With Oxford the focus of our OxProp events and notwithstanding a few sorties to explore the sheer range of the conference’s other offerings, we pitched camp at the Oxford – Cambridge growth corridor pavilion, expertly curated by Placi Espejo and her team.

The organic growth in the two anchor cities has been happening for many years and, in spite of the stuttering attempts by previous governments to create an overarching structure to latch onto it (remember the Arc, the PRP?), we now know that this Government recognises how the region will contribute to UK plc.

As Minister for Housing, Matthew Pennycook is reported to have said (his session was literally packed out so I couldn’t hear it first hand), HMG is ‘determined to make it happen’.

The sessions which followed explained what is needed to make it so. My takeaways included:

  • Investment from Government in infrastructure and removing roadblocks.
  • Capital investment from the private sector from the UK and beyond to provide the wherewithal for the growth, in all stages from start-up to IPO.
  • The universities to make outward-facing room for innovation on their campuses.
  • An understanding of what the mega organisations in the world are interested in.
  • The ability to attract the skills needed to harness the innovation, not least by providing good and affordable housing.
  • Power, water, transport, the latter to be delivered (to the applause, if not relief of all), by East-West Rail. We heard a fascinating talk on how the new railway is being procured, which included the company’s commitment to ‘keep it local’

And we heard that, in the expectation that the transport links and new settlements will be delivered, flags are already being planted across the corridor; the dots are being joined!

Cambridge has held the lead for many years (its first science park was created in the 1970s) but more is needed across the region to avoid it all going stale. Long-term solutions, requiring staying power and commitment, are needed to consolidate the innovation.

It was encouraging that so many bright and optimistic people are working on realising the dream, not just for the region but for the country as a whole, and beyond.

See also: A view of UKREiiF from the next generation

Hugh Blaza and Matthew Battle discuss UKREiiF in our latest podcast, recorded in Leeds. It features several of the key figures representing our region.

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