Flying the flag for Birmingham at MIPIM
By Rob Groves, Regional Director, Argent
Birmingham has had a presence at MIPIM (Marché International des Professionnels d’Immobilier – in case you’re wondering!) for the past two decades now.
And more than ever, it’s important to fly the flag for the city and the Midlands at such international gatherings.
As well as a chance to meet investors from around the world and have time with contacts you may not see except at this event, MIPIM is a great marketing exercise because it brings the stakeholders, decision-makers and policy makers from home together in the same place.
It becomes, very importantly, an opportunity to show partnership working in action. Which is precisely where developments like Paradise Birmingham come in.
This year I will be talking to fellow property figures about the amazing opportunities that exist in Birmingham and the wider Midlands region right now, Paradise being one, but certainly not the only one. We want to deliver world-class placemaking that stands the test of time while also delivering on a commercial level. There’s never been a better moment in recent history for Birmingham’s real estate sector and that’s the message myself and others from Birmingham will be aiming to get across throughout this week.
MIPIM is all about business, about understanding the very important role that commercial property plays in a vibrant economy and using it to leverage further investment, skills and jobs. MIPIM helps us to put trends – local, national and international – into context.
After all, the real estate sector is not a Monopoly board where individuals try and out-do one another. It’s a relatively small and co-operative community of people who actively support one another because the greater goal of securing investment that creates prosperity is the driver for each and every one of us. Success in one part of the sector or one particular scheme creates greater demand across the market, supporting more projects and so the investment cycle goes round.
We all realise we have a responsibility to deliver the best quality development we can so we leave a positive legacy and learn from the mistakes of the past which created barriers – both real and psychological – in places like Birmingham. That recent respect for the human-scale of development is central to the approach both at Paradise and other sites across the region.
We want to ensure we deliver positive legacies for the future and places people will want to keep on visiting for years to come. At MIPIM our goal is to talk about the investment opportunities that will help us to deliver that vision and bring others on board who share the same approach.