Coventry and Warwickshire will go to the world’s largest commercial property show with “its most optimistic message for the last five years”.
Coventry has had a presence at the MIPIM property conference for more than 20 years and last year was officially joined by Warwickshire at the show, which attracts around 30,000 property professionals from across the globe.
Private sector developers and other related businesses come together under the banner of the MIPIM Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership meaning that in recent years there has been no cost to Coventry City Council.
With work on the Friargate office-led scheme due to start weeks before the show and a developer – Queensberry Real Estate – in advanced talks over the City Centre South project, the city is set for major development in the next few years.
Lynnette Kelly, Coventry City Council Cabinet Member for Business, Enterprise and Employment, believes that the message of development will be perfectly tailored to the MIPIM audience.
She said: “There is a tremendous amount of development happening or about to happen in the city and in the county and that gives us a very strong message to what is the most powerful property audience there is.
“A great deal of preparatory work has been going on over recent years when the market has been through tough times but that means now, as hopefully there are tangible signs of improvement, we are at the perfect stage for those plans to start coming to fruition.
“Accordingly we will be going to MIPIM with a very positive and optimistic story about the city and the county and what we have to offer inward investors – probably the most optimistic message for the last five years.
“We have vanguard companies such as Jaguar Land Rover who are international success stories which help not only improve our economy but also act as ambassadors for our area. Every Jaguar exported around the world is an advert for the capabilities we possess in Coventry and Warwickshire and is a very powerful inward investment message.
“With Friargate starting, Heatline progressing well, very positive development and job creation at Ryton and MIRA as well as City Centre South progressing, we have plenty of momentum and the presence at MIPIM is one way to exploit that.”
The partnership has already signed up Friargate, McLaren, Study Inn, Willmott Dixon, Jaguar Land Rover and the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP).
Kieran Leahy, of Study Inn, which provides high quality student accommodation in major UK cities, said: “In the four days at MIPIM, the Coventry and Warwickshire MIPIM partnership really does stand out from the crowd as a public private partnership that’s got the balance right.
“In terms of its image, presence and message to the outside world, it very visually promotes a feeling that Coventry and Warwickshire is open for business and this breed’s confidence with anyone considering development or investment in the area.
“It works for the Council and for the partners too and this ability to work together in partnership has been seen by other authorities and private businesses as a leading example of best practice and innovative thinking.”
