UKREiiF 2026 - The Quest for Confidence and Clarity

Thursday 21st May 2026 - I'm currently somewhere between Doncaster and Peterborough on the 14:20 back to King's Cross after UKREiiF, and finally the sun is breaking through. The Rt Honourable Rachel Reeves was on my train north earlier this week - entirely fitting really, because much of the conversation in Leeds ultimately circled back to one thing - confidence. Or more accurately, the lack of it.

UKREiiF continues to grow in scale, attendance and profile (bravo Nathan Spencer!). The queues were long, lanyards everywhere across the city, and fringe events multiplied again. Every available square metre of Leeds seemed to have been turned into either a panel discussion, drinks reception, closed door meeting or podcast studio for one authority or another.

But beneath the admirable enthusiasm, there was a noticeable flatness in the market this year - a kind of underlying fatigue. Not because people don't believe in cities, regeneration or the future of the UK - we all do, we really do - but it was quite the opposite. The private sector still wants to build (desperately!), capital still wants to deploy (selectively), and great developers, investors and operators are still trying to make ambitious projects happen.

The frustration however is that the industry increasingly feels like it is operating with one hand tied behind its back. A procession of Housing Ministers, too much policy drift, with a particularly large dollop of political churn - all translating into very little long-term clarity. Wait, haven't we seen this script before?

And meanwhile, construction costs continue to escalate due to inflation and the Iran conflict, making viability conversations even more brutal - hobbling development. And if it's not that, it's a planning system that at times feels at times anti-development.

There's now a widening disconnect between the public and manifesto rhetoric around growth, and the lived commercial reality of trying to deliver complex schemes in Britain in 2026.

You could feel it in the tone of discussions around housing delivery, infrastructure, planning and regional growth, with attempted balance from the PropTech crowd admirably trying to take the heat out of the process. The uncomfortable truth is that there's now a widening disconnect between the public and manifesto rhetoric around growth, and the lived commercial reality of trying to deliver complex schemes in Britain in 2026.

Some cities stood out regardless. #Manchester continues to behave like a city with momentum and self-belief. Andy Burnham attracted a genuine media scrum everywhere he appeared - and not simply because of personality, profile or his upcoming election campaign. Increasingly, people are looking towards those in strong regional leadership positions because they are struggling to identify a coherent national vision.

#Leeds itself also deserves enormous credit. The city has now firmly established UKREiiF as something more meaningful than simply "MIPIM in the UK". As well as next year's event, despite bursting at the seams. There is real civic pride there now, and the city feels increasingly comfortable hosting national conversations about investment, infrastructure and regeneration. "Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!" as Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire proudly chanted in the Bury Theatre.

#Bradford too became one of the talking points of the week. Eurofund Group's acquisition of Broadway Bradford caught the headlines - announced by Bradford Council Strategic Director for Place, David Shepherd. Here is a expert pan-European operator making a very deliberate play on a major regional asset; the smartest retail investors increasingly understand that dominant schemes in regional cities outperform when paired with careful placemaking, great brands and experienced managers with operational confidence.

There were also moments where the industry felt genuinely intellectually alive again. I thoroughly enjoyed the Alastair Campbell "The Rest is Politics" session alongside Related Argent CEO Tom Goodall. Campbell remains one of the sharpest communicators in the country, whether people agree with his politics or not. More importantly, he understands something our industry still often underestimates: that narrative matters, public trust matters, and emotional connection matters. You cannot spreadsheet your way into civic support for major regeneration anymore, and let's not forget that authenticity and politics are not frequent bed fellows.

One of the more encouraging shifts across the programme generally was the elevated visibility of B2B marketing, communications and place narrative. For years, marketing at property conferences was treated as the back office, somewhere between brochures and lanyards.

Differentiation has become commercially material.

That is no longer true. In an era where LinkedIn is saturated, capital is cautious, and every city seems to arrive with near-identical slogans about innovation, inclusivity, creativity and opportunity, differentiation has become commercially material. So as Misa von Tunzelman FCIM said, it was nice to finally be "seen".

Credit to Julian West and the team at J2 for continuing to support and elevate that agenda visibly within the programme itself - we stand together on that. And beyond the tactical brand and brochure work, the industry is slowly recognising that strategic communications is not the icing on the cake. Increasingly it is part of the capital stack, as Emma Collings also says in her BE News interview this week.

I was also pleased to see the launch of the NLA "One Built Environment" campaign, which Innesco firmly supports. Frankly, it feels overdue. The built environment is the UK's largest economic sector, contributing 25% of UK GVA, 1 in 8 jobs, £168bn in exports - and overall a greater economic contribution than the finance services sector. FACT.

And perhaps that was my overriding takeaway from Leeds this year - that the industry itself still has ideas, talent, ambition and appetite, but it is craving clarity, stability, and leadership - and frankly a little more bravery. Because despite the headwinds, there are still extraordinary projects like in #Newcastle, #Liverpool and #Torbay being conceived across the UK.

The danger now is not lack of opportunity, it's an erosion of confidence.

Anyway - great to see so many friends, clients and familiar faces over the past few days. Now heading back to London with tote bags full of notes, too many coffees in my system, and the vague suspicion that our industry is somehow simultaneously exhausted yet on the verge of reinvention.