MIPIM 2023 Day Three Round Up Thursday 16 March

Manchester’s programme of events at MIPIM 2023 has come to a close. The final day of sessions on the Manchester stand saw a varied and exciting mix of panels, surrounding culture, ESG and creating a fairer, future-proofed city-region.

Thursday 16 March provided an opportunity for more of the Manchester delegation to share their vision for the city and discuss how the region is working to create a greener, fairer, more creative place for future generations and opening up new opportunities for communities to succeed.

Kicking off the final day of activity on the Manchester Stand, Factory International gave an insight into one of the city’s most highly anticipated new openings. "Factory International – Culture and the City" was an in-conversation event with Tom Bloxham MBE Chair of the Board of Trustees and Randel Bryan Executive Director and Deputy CEO of Factory International, hosted by Andrea George Director at Bruntwood. The conversation discussed why Factory International will create a landmark moment for the city, what it will contribute to Greater Manchester and how it will benefit communities.

Randel Bryan said, ”Factory International is going to be a culture bomb for Manchester. People are going to raise their expectations for art and culture like never before.

“Our work is complementary to the creative work in Manchester at the moment. We’re not cannibalising art and culture, we’re complementing the work of other institutions.”

Tom Bloxham MBE said, “The scale and size and imagination of the building makes it incredibly unique. It will be a huge landmark and asset to Manchester. It will create tens of millions of pounds in revenue for the city.

“My metaphor was this is a village hall for Manchester. Yes, it’s going to put on global art programmes but it’s going to be open all the time to grab a coffee, walk around and experience something. The ambition is whenever you go in there something is always happening.”

View the video here.

Then, sticking with the cultural theme, Frank Mckenna, Founder, Chair and Chief Executive of Downtown Business hosted a session called “Culture as a Driver of Growth Across the UK”. Paul Dennett Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester and Mayor of Salford, Kate Hart Chief Executive of The EC BID Andy Williams Director of Business Investment and Culture at Coventry City of Culture and Mark Bourgeois Interim Director of Regeneration at Liverpool City Council all joined the conversation.

Paul Dennett, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester said, “Art, culture and creativity are about people, we have to have the right strategy on how to accommodate those people, we need a strategy that enables artists and creators to live, work and play in the places like Manchester.”

View the video here.

Then, over on the London stage, Joanne Roney, Chief Exec of Manchester City Council joined "The future of UK City centres and London's role" discussing the changing role of city centres and how London can use the strength of its city-centre support other cities across the UK including Manchester to retain talent, make the most of their culture and more.

Joining Joanne on the panel was Laura Citron CEO London & Partners, John Walsh Chief Executive of Belfast City Council, Jose Pellicer Head of Investment Strategy of M&G Real Estate Limited and Sarah Rawlings Senior Advisor of LCA.

Joanne Roney Chief Exec of Manchester City Council said, “Manchester is the place where the tables are for dancing on. Our global brand for culture is absolutely crucial to us, it acts as a catalyst for economic growth and future jobs.

“As soon as COVID restrictions were lifted, people have not stopped coming into the city. We’ve got more hotel beds being built than ever before. There’s also a creativity being unleashed with this rethinking of placemaking.

“We are interested to see how Manchester and the North can match up to London. We have the talent and the pipeline of talent that keeps us ahead of other places. We have the culture, ambition and growth.”

Back on the Manchester stand, the third session of the day was “ESG: The Responsible Revolution” moderated by Will Lewis, Founding Director of OBI Property. Jane Healey Brown, Director at Arup, Tanya Francis Real Estate Partner at CMS, Andrew Temple Senior Operations Director at WSP and Andrea George, Director at Bruntwood.

The panel discussed how to be more impactful in sustainability, engaging with SMEs and community engagement from property developers.

ARUP, WSP and Bruntwood all discussed the initiatives they are taking to promote ESG within their future developments. Bruntwood also discussed their plans for Pall Mall, an example of a heritage building that is being refurbished whilst making the building sustainable.

View the video here.

Then, it was time for ‘Future Proofed Investment: Can Manchester Deliver for Generation Alpha? Imagining 2033’ a panel which set out a vision for the future of investment in Greater Manchester and what the city needs to do to support future generations. Jessica Middleton-Pugh, Residential and Retail Editor, React News moderated the session which featured Dan Hyde Development Director of NOMA, Becca Heron, Strategic Director of Growth and Development at Manchester City Council, Rachel Haugh Co-Founding Partner of SimpsonHaugh, Jane Healey Brown, Director of Arup and David Hilton Business Development Director at MIDAS.

The panel began with a video interviewing primary school students from Rusholme Manchester, discussing their future hopes and ambitions for the city. The panel then went on to discuss the priorities mentioned including connectivity, digital and putting people at the heart of placemaking.

Becca Heron, Strategic Director of Growth and Development at Manchester City Council said, “We’ve talked a lot about integrated transport. A lot of it, is having confidence that you can get to where you need to be with a reliable, consistent transport system.”

David Hilton, Business Development Director at MIDAS, said “Digital is a big thing, we’ve seen great growth already in cyber and fintech. Gasification is big because children have grown with the tech. That digital theme runs through all of the key sectors of Greater Manchester.”

View the video here.

The final panel session of Manchester’s MIPIM programme was hosted by Place North West. Levelling Up Greater Manchester brought together leaders from across the city-region including, Paul Dennett Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester and City Mayor of Salford, Paul Ormerod, Chair of Rochdale Development Agency, Alison McKenzie-Folan Chief Executive of Wigan Council and Jeremy Hinds Director of Savills. It was moderated by Dan Whelan Senior Reporter at Place North West.

To wrap up Manchester’s time at MIPIM, the Manchester stand hosted a farewell drinks reception, to thank delegates for their support and celebrate another successful year promoting the city to international investors.

At the reception, Joanne Roney said, “We said at the start, that we come here to do work and I think we have all worked incredibly hard. It’s the work we do today and the connections we make today and how they continue when we get back to Manchester.

We’ve had over 20 sessions on this stand and have had hundreds of people visit the stand over the week. We started with global conversations and that’s carried on. Between myself, Paul and Eamonn, we’ve been on 16 sessions on other stands, global sessions.

That budget and devolution deal comes about as a result of the conversations we have at MIPIM and other forums and the ideas we share. None of this is possible without the support of our business partners and yourself.”

And that concludes another year for Manchester at MIPIM. We’d like to say a huge thank you to all of our partners, speakers and team who helped to bring this all together.

In case you missed it, you can read a roundup of all of the activity from the Manchester Delegation on Tuesday 14 March and Wednesday 15 March.