Author: Rosie Walker

On the 16^th and 17^th of May, I attended UKREiiF; the UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum, at the Royal Armouries, Leeds. UKREiiF is a three-day event that brings together the public sector, Government, investors, developers, as well as many other stakeholders, in order to unlock future investments and therefore accelerate development.

On the Tuesday (16^th), I arrived at the Royal Armouries at 8:30am to register and collect my lanyard. I also picked up a programme to see what would be taking place over the next few days. The large number of events and talks presented made me realise that I would have to choose carefully in what I wanted to see. At 9am, I attended the opening speech from Lord Bob Kerslake, the Chair of the UKREiiF Advisory Board, who expressed his gratitude for the event and set the tone of what to expect over the days to come. This was followed by a speech from Lord Dominic Johnson MBE, the Investment Minister, who amplified the importance of the event in terms of driving country-wide investment and sustainable development. Shortly after Lord Dominic’s speech, Tracy Brabin, the Mayor of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, also spoke about the importance of UKREiiF to local government and devolution ambitions.

The first talk of the day, Is Levelling Up Working? Refocusing and Reinforcing National Regeneration Priorities, shortly followed. This encompassed a very interesting discussion on the Levelling Up strategy within the UK with the panel discussing what is working, what is not working, and what needs to be done to improve the overall strategy. A key element I found particularly interesting involves the amount of time, effort, and money that goes into the local authority bids to obtain Levelling Up funding, which ultimately becomes a waste of resources in the event that they do not succeed.

Various other talks that I attended that day include Transforming Transport and Futureproofing Infrastructure – Connecting Places, People, and Businesses While Creating a World Class Place to Live, The Power of Road and Rail Infrastructure to Unlock Regeneration, and Sustainability and the Cost of Living – How do we make net zero places work for all? As a Transport Planner, I found the first two mentioned particularly interesting.

The talk on Transforming Transport discussed priorities for investment in order to deliver the maximum benefit for the populations and industries trying to become net zero. It was really intriguing to listen to the different sides on prioritising ways to become net zero – do we try to create a huge modal shift from road to rail in terms of freight and haulage? Or do we try to decarbonise all HGV fleets that use our motorways? The Power of Road and Rail Infrastructure was also hugely interesting in terms of working with companies such as Network Rail and National Highways to unlock development in strategic locations around our rail and road infrastructure.

The final event of the day, and of my UKREiiF experience was A Next Gen Event – How Will You Change Construction? This was a networking event, hosted by Rider Levett Bucknall, for the young professionals that were in attendance of UKREiiF. As this was my first experience of a networking event, it was very daunting to say the least.

However, overall, it was a very engaging session, and I made some good contacts from other companies / sectors.Overall, my experience of UKREiiF was very positive and I am excited by the thought of attending more events like this in the future. I think it is crucial for young professionals to gain exposure at these kinds of events early on as it is extremely fundamental in building our professional networks and setting us up for success in our careers.

To find out more about UKREiiF, click here.