Day three – UKREiiF 2025

The final day at UKREiiF has drawn to a close and ‘placemaking’ was the word of the day amongst leaders in a range of industry sectors.

In the world of resi, Muse and HUB talked about the need for BTR developments to be an extension of what makes an area special in the first place, and integrating new developments within existing communities. Damien Sharkey explained how Hub’s staged approach to delivery – building the homes first – unlocks the funding needed to invest in new public realm, amenities and other placemaking for the community.

In a talk on the future of London’s life science landscape, the panel, which included British Land’s Michael Wiseman and Bruntwood SciTech’s Dr Kath Mackay, highlighted the risk of the sector “marketing itself in isolation”. To retain and attract both talent and occupiers on a global scale, London needs to be selling place over space. But it’s not without its challenges. As Alice Sewell, Investment Director at Imperial College London identified, a lack of affordable homes means the capital is leaking talent to other clusters. Certainly not an easy challenge to solve, not least given the Mayor’s recent revision of the affordable housing target, but essential none the less.

And in the leisure and culture sector, major cultural institutions such as London Zoo and the Imperial War Museum are looking to placemaking to increase visitor volumes and diversify revenue streams. For Zoological Society of London this includes the introduction of new uses including F&B that can operate outside of the Zoo’s opening hours. Whilst the Imperial War Museums is seeking partnerships with other venues and spaces to enable it to make more of its collection accessible to the public. Jo Saunders acknowledged the important role business improvement districts such as Culture Mile BID can play to facilitate the relationships needed to deliver on this ambition.

A heartfelt thank you to Nathan Spencer and the rest of the UKREiiF team for a terrifically insightful and full-on (!) three days in sunny, thriving Leeds.

And a final thank you to my colleagues Hannah Channing, Kelly Kerruish and Rowan Cole who ensured the experience was fun as well as full-on!