UKREiiF: Trends, themes, and takeaways

With MIPIM, UKREiiF, and the Spring Soiree all taking place recently, Spring has been a great time for events. 

I and the rest of the LandTech team love that we can meet more of you in person and I can’t wait for everything else we’ve got planned for 2022. 

While UKREiiF is still fresh in my mind, I wanted to share some of my key takeaways from the seminars and the conversations I had whilst at the event. 

There were a few topics that kept coming up, particularly around connectivity and ensuring equal growth and opportunities across the UK – not just London. 

And three solutions to these problems came up again and again – transport, education, and ESG. So let’s look at them all in a little more detail. 

Transport

Connectivity means different things to different people. But when it comes to creating physical connections between places and people, good transportation is key. 

And it’s crucial for making sure that areas outside of central hubs are not being left behind. 

During Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester’s talk he mentioned how he wanted to drive down the price of public transport and adopt a similar model to London. 

Not only would this make getting around the city centre a lot easier, but it would give people from surrounding communities access to a load more employment opportunities. 

Andy used the example of working to create greater ties with Bradford now that the HS2 railway is no longer planning to include it as a stop. Creating and connecting Northern powerhouse cities with better infrastructure will be an effective step to reduce regional inequality.

More rural areas are also putting more of an onus on transport infrastructure and better access roads – and more pressure may be put on developers to help provide this. 

Education

We are currently experiencing a skills shortage across many key industries in the UK – and construction has been hit particularly hard over the last few years.

Better and more diverse education is key here to ensure we are both plugging gaps in existing industries as well as anticipating emerging sectors.

Analysing trends and predicting growth sectors will help ensure they are properly supported and local people can secure jobs.  

A stronger skills system would help supply a stream of new talent and improve employment rates. 

This can be started early by creating connections between local businesses and schools, so students can learn more about the different opportunities out there. 

Cities outside of London need more support (and the infrastructure discussed above) to educate, attract, and retain talent. 

ESG

ESG (environmental, social, governance) plays into a lot of new decision-making. Its aim is to build responsible governance that makes positive and sustainable impacts on people and places.

It also ties up the other ongoing themes of connectivity and not leaving people behind that kept cropping up during my time at UKREiiF. 

The only way to properly embed ESG into decision-making at a governing level is to hear perspectives from a diverse range of voices, particularly around questions like:

• Where do they need more homes built? 
• What transportation links would they like to see improved? 
• Are new industries in their area contributing to social good? 

ESG is also feeding more directly into the development industry. Sustainability and carbon neutrality are being factored into more and more projects to help limit the negative impact new developments can have on the environment. 

On the social side, development is more about community-building than ever before.

And at LandTech we don’t just encourage our customers to build more, but to build the right spaces in areas where people can thrive. 

Share your thoughts

Did you attend UKREiiF? I’d love to hear your main insights and takeaways from the event.

You can send me a direct message in Community to let me know any common trends, challenges, and opportunities that you picked up on! 

And if you didn’t? Well, hopefully, I’ll see you at the next one.