Thanks to three successive major elections this year, I’ve been stuck under pre-election restrictions for seemingly most of the year, so I’ve only now reached a point where I can share my MIPIM story – you’ll have to forgive the delay!

In December 2025, I somehow managed to win a place on the internationally competitive MIPIM Challengers programme, which offered me free access to the festival, heavily subsidised accommodation, and a programme of content while attending. This felt like such a surreal achievement, and whilst the months between involved a lot of work for our amazing Head of Partnerships & Investment and me, I think it was quite hard to know what to expect before actually arriving.

Monday 9th March

It was also my first time flying solo, so I was grateful to have company at the airport (though enjoying breakfast did result in me nearly being responsible for the City Mayor and our Chief Exec missing their flight – turns out there are two morning flights??). It was also amazing to see the newly renovated Terminal 2 for the first time, demonstrating that there’s not much we’re leading in as a city at the moment, thanks to Manchester Airports Group.

I was staying in Nice, so I had to split from my team when we arrived in France. After the most beautiful train journey along the Riviera to Nice on a double-decker train, it was straight into the Palace of Festivals with not much time to waste, as we had secured a prime time spot for the City Mayor on the opening panel of the ‘Housing Matters!’ conference, talking in-depth about affordable housing and all the amazing work we’re doing here in Salford and across Greater Manchester on prevention and provision

I have got to say that the train journey to Cannes was mildly surreal, and I suppose it was probably one of the first times I’ve been exposed to the sheer level of wealth that’s brazenly on display in the South of France – the villas, the yachts, the cars – it’s definitely a far cry from Tameside, where I spent the first eighteen years of my life!!

After finding a quiet spot to prepare for the next session, Paul and I attended RX Global’s ‘Housing Reboot’ workshop, where we discussed the major issues facing the housing sector. I chose to participate in the table focused on Homelessness, and it was an honour to be surrounded by global experts who all made really interesting contributions on what the public and private sectors need to do to address the seemingly insurmountable housing crisis. I talked about some of the things we’re doing here in Greater Manchester, including our adoption of the Housing First model and our Tripartite partnership between the GMCA, Housing Providers, and NHS Greater Manchester.

I also shared with the table the incredible work that culminated in Embassy Village, and how this was a tangible example of private- and public-sector philanthropy creating something with real impact. With the eyes of the world now on Manchester (cheers Andy!), people will be asking the difficult question – is this the sort of scheme we can genuinely replicate across the country, or is it a one-off, spurred by uniquely generous philanthropy?

After the conference wrapped for the day, it was great to catch up with friends and meet new partners from our region at the welcome receptions and at an incredible, low-key dinner at a beautiful family-owned Italian restaurant, before catching an Uber back to my hotel ready for the week ahead!

Tuesday 10th March

Tuesday morning started the firing gun on MIPIM itself, and after a very quick continental breakfast, I hopped the shuttle bus to Cannes, arriving just before Manchester started its programme, with opening remarks from Tom Stannard and Caroline Simpson that set the mood and themes for the week. This was followed by a panel on the UK Stage with standing-room-only attendance, where Andy set out our ambitions for a dynamic decade powered by the newly unveiled £1 billion Good Growth Fund, accompanied by some of our best public- and private-sector leaders.

It should be noted that whilst Liverpool tried to upstage us with their £2 billion Good Growth Fund (we love them really), our bold approach to investment came up again and again and again throughout the week as an exemplar of public-sector action and as a radical way to fight against viability challenges in an increasingly unstable economic environment. The most recent round of allocations has shown this again, with targeted public-sector finance being used to unlock some of Greater Manchester’s biggest infrastructure constraints at New Carrington, Victoria North, and Northern Gateway.

With Mayor Bev Craig now taking over from Andy, she’s made it clear that the Good Growth Fund will continue to be used to spread the benefits of our city-region’s prosperity beyond the urban core and to every town and village, building on the success of our Mayoral Development Corporations, which are now expanding rapidly following the acceleration Stockport proved they can bring to town centres.

Straight after the Good Growth panel, I took part in the CIRC_IT workshop on Good Growth, hosted by Place North and Layer.studio. I’m not sure what the plural for Directors of Place is (a gaggle?), but working with a bunch of those from Greater Manchester, along with some MIPIM Challengers and Regeneration Brainery Brainees, we spent an hour exploring what Good Growth should look like, with the results being collated into ’12 Fixes for Good Growth’, displayed here and available on the CIRC_IT website.

I know that I’ll definitely be thinking of these twelve fixes as I continue my time at Salford, and I was especially happy to see some of my own thoughts on construction skill pipelines and on using MDCs to transcend the political cycle make their way into the final selection.

After the CIRC_IT workshop, the rest of the day was just as jam-packed, with Paul featuring on a Manchester panel discussing the viability of affordable housing before attending an absolutely star-studded Political Leaders Summit over at the Place North, expertly chaired by Julia Hatmaker. I had a bit of time to start exploring the various stands, including London’s jaw-dropping scale model, before meeting my fellow MIPIM Challengers for the first time, then attending the MIPIM opening reception, and later meeting Steve Coogan at the Manchester Dinner??? It’s safe to say I was exhausted by the time I started to search for an Uber back to Nice (which took over an hour to accept me as they were determined to make me pay £200 in taxi prices!!)

Wednesday 11th March

Wednesday started off bright and early, and the sun had finally arrived, making it an absolutely gorgeous day in Cannes by the time I arrived, ready for Place North’s ‘How to Build a New Town’ breakfast featuring our very own Stephen Young. With the help of the audience and, once again, chaired by Julia, the panel laid the foundations for ‘Towny McTownFace’, with Stephen discussing how housing should be approached in New Towns and how we’ve approached it here in Salford.

I spent a few hours thoroughly exploring everything MIPIM had to offer, visiting a variety of global cities and learning about their offerings to the international market (which, luckily for me, included free cans of Spezi at the Munich stand!). I also popped by the Japan stand and had a really good conversation about our new sister cities agreement with Osaka, a moment I was proud to be part of last year. After that, I popped into the Manchester Stand to watch Bev Craig, then Leader of Manchester City Council, announce the vision for Manchester Piccadilly’s proposed underground station, and then to watch my manager, Sarah, talk about how leisure and culture can be used as a regenerative force, including here in Salford.

I also had the chance to listen to Bruntwood’s Chris Oglesby talk candidly about his company’s journey over the last 50 years and how it has been inextricably intertwined with that of our city region. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet Chris on several occasions through his philanthropic work, and it’s hard to imagine the city of Manchester without his family’s contributions.

After this, I joined my fellow MIPIM Challengers for the evening and got the chance to explore the city with new friends from across Europe’s property industry. The breadth of young talent was honestly astonishing, and I spent the night within impressive company; there’s no doubt these people are the leaders of tomorrow.

Thursday 12th March

Thursday marked the last full day of MIPIM, and after another 7:30am shuttle bus from Nice to Cannes, the day kicked off with our City Mayor Paul Dennett pitching everything Salford has to offer in just three minutes, alongside other regional leaders in a Dragons’ Den-esque panel hosted by Place North. Whilst naturally, I thought Salford were the one worthy of investment, special credit has to be given to Cllr Anne Handley, leader of the East Riding, who pitched a lobster/yacht marina in Bridlington – I’ve made a mental note to visit if this idea takes off.

Before the rest of Team Salford took off, we had two events going at once, with Stephen taking the Manchester Stage to discuss the rapidly evolving CyanLines project, masterminded by the ever-omnipresent Tom Bloxham, whilst our Director of Place, John, spoke about opportunity on the edges of cities with WSP. After these concluded, the team at Salford said their goodbyes and abandoned me in France (as they had flights to catch), and I was left to prepare for my own panel.

Whilst I was understandably a little nervous, I took plenty of time to prepare and had a really good time, alongside Caroline Simpson (then CE of GMCA) and Abiola Ogunsami from Muse, discussing how the public and private sector can support the next sector of property talent in Greater Manchester. I set out my argument that our city-region faces a major skills crisis driven by an ageing workforce, low birth rates and a broken ‘line-of-sight’ between training and employment opportunities. I set out what we’re doing at GMCA to restore that line of sight for careers in regeneration, but challenged industry to take more risks on young people when it comes to apprenticeships and meaningful work experience.

It seemed to be received really well and was a nice way to bring the Manchester programme to a close, with the day finishing not long after our panel. After a long week, I spent the evening with friends I had made during MIPIM, and got my flight home the morning after. Naturally, it was delayed.

Key Takeaways

1. It’s a whole other world out there. I grew up in Tameside, stayed in Manchester for university, and haven’t left since. I haven’t really been abroad that much or travelled extensively, so there was definitely a bit of a culture shock when it came to the wealth and extravagance of Cannes – I probably ate and drank better than at any point in my 22 years, and I definitely felt a little out of place
2. Greater Manchester really does have global recognition – and I don’t expect that to stop anytime soon. People from both around the world and domestically were instantly interested once I told them I was from Manchester – we have such a story to tell, both past, present, and future. Now we have a new Mayor of Greater Manchester working hand-in-hand with the former Mayor of Greater Manchester as Prime Minister in the new backyard of Number 10 North; I expect this excitement will only grow, bringing ever-more investment with it.
3. MIPIM has real value for the public sector. What astonished me as one of the most junior people in attendance was how exclusive the event felt. Every new person I met seemed to be a director, chief executive or similarly senior representative of the organisations present. Whilst I had free time to explore the offer, my seniors from Salford were in constant one-to-one meetings behind the scenes, with the time being incredibly productive as a result of the access to all these people in one place at the same time. I was told story after story of deals being made, funds being accessed, opportunities being unlocked as the result of off-chance encounters of the type you simply don’t get elsewhere. There’s often grumblings around the cost of such events, but the return on investment is significant, and the relationships that organisations can make there are perhaps more significant still.

Lastly, I would like to thank the GMCA, Salford City Council, RX Global and Invest Manchester for making my experience possible, along with Regeneration Brainery for providing good company!

We should be proud of the show we put on in Cannes as a city-region. To have public and private sectors united in our passion for the place we call home, collectively determined to drive investment, growth and jobs to our patch is genuinely inspiring, and it’s just part of the magic that’s helped Greater Manchester become the fastest-growing city-region in the United Kingdom.