Daniel May reflects on his time at MIPIM

Last week, our director Daniel May joined 22,500 delegates, and more than 6,500 investors from 90 countries* at the world’s leading real estate event, MIPIM. We caught up with Daniel to find out how it went…

''Relationships are more important than ever for the property industry, and no gathering in the calendar is more representative of this than MIPIM. It has global significance and attendance.

Having spent 48 hours at the conference, making new acquaintances and strengthening well established relationships, my main takeaway from MIPIM was not what I expected. All too often the private sector bemoans the pace at which the public sector moves, and voices its frustration at the lack of alignment and opportunities. Well, I think the tables have turned and the public sector have laid down the gauntlet - they are ‘open for business’. Even more, they’ve done a lot of the hard yards to bring forward exciting and compelling development and investment opportunities. The challenge is for the private sector to respond, and with the groundswell of optimism (albeit with a sense of caution) that underpinned many of the conversations, I think the next 12 months will be pivotal for the forward-thinkers in the industry.

The London Borough of Sutton is the perfect example of the process above, where the public and private sector can work together with mutually beneficial interests to unlock massive potential, as we are seeing with the London Cancer Hub. This was borne out of a conversation that was had at MIPIM ‘23, but Sutton had invested a lot of time and energy in order to make the most of the conference and its broad reach.

For me, the elephant in the room is still the moral dilemma about whether flying to France to talk to people from the UK is the right thing to do - even with carbon offsetting - or with the increasing use of train travel. And as I look around, the industry still has work to do on attracting a broader diversity of talent into the sector.

But what is unquestionable is that taking time away from the daily routine of meetings, emails and report-writing is hugely valuable to unlocking unknown connections and possibilities. You don’t know what you don’t know! So, with the public sector having laid it on the line, it will be interesting to see if the private sector can rise to the challenge.''

*2023 MIPIM figures

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