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After last year’s Mipim proved a particularly damp affair, with persistent rain and the occasional thunderstorm, property professionals heading to Cannes, southern France, will be hoping for brighter skies when they gather for this year’s event between 9 and 13 March.
Frances Brown
Frances Brown, partner for building services at Cundall
Why are you attending Mipim this year?
Mipim is a great opportunity to meet both people I already know and people I haven’t met. It is also a good opportunity to learn about the developments happening all over the world, raise the profile of the business and get a better understanding of the development pipeline and what matters to our clients.
What are the main opportunities or projects you’re planning to promote?
Personally, I will be promoting the strengths our business has in engineering and specialist design for the built environment, particularly in offices, as I am the global sector lead for workplace.
Do you have any activities or special events planned for this year’s event?
We don’t have our own stand, but we have several colleagues attending the event and have organised a small drinks event for friends and clients.
I will be promoting our strengths in engineering and specialist design for the built environment
Why do you think Mipim remains relevant?
Mipim brings people together and everyone is away from their day‑to‑day business, focused on meeting others and developing new opportunities. It is a highly efficient and enjoyable way to connect with people. I particularly enjoy the London Stand as it relates to my market, and there are often people there I haven’t seen for a while, giving me a chance to reconnect.
Steve Rotheram
Steve Rotheram, mayor of Liverpool
Why are you attending Mipim this year?
Mipim is where a lot of the world’s investors and developers gather in one place, so it’s a chance to tell Liverpool city region’s story directly to a wide audience and build those relationships. If we want global investment, we’ve got to be in the room.
What are you promoting?
We’ve got around £11bn worth of projects to talk about – from Wirral Waters and major housing sites to life sciences, film studios and manufacturing. We’re also sharing our plans for Central Station, our wider Innovation Zone and the new Mayoral Development Corporation, which will help us accelerate delivery on some of our biggest regeneration sites.
We’re looking for developers, funders and businesses that want to put down roots here
What investment are you looking for?
We’re looking for long-term partners: developers, funders and businesses that want to put down roots here. I’ve set a target to lift foreign direct investment by 25% by the end of the decade, and events like this help make that real.
Do you have any events planned?
We will be running panels, presentations and lots of investor meetings, with a big focus on sustainable development and green infrastructure. We’re also launching our new 2026 prospectus, which I hope people will pick up and read.
Susan Aitken
Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council
Why are you attending Mipim this year?
Having not attended in an official capacity since before the pandemic, our developer community was clear that it was time to get back out there and sell the city, along with Scotland, at Mipim.
Are you looking for any particular type of investment or support?
Glasgow has a significant amount of land in public ownership that would be suitable for single-family housing and mixed-use development along with important city centre locations where we would be supportive of build to rent, co-living and purpose-built student accommodation, as well as office and retail uses.
I am keen to explore joint venture opportunities so that we can marry local expertise and placemaking with the exciting architecture and investment out there looking for a home.
Do you have any activities or special events planned for this year’s event?
The Scotland at Mipim stand within the UK Hub will be where we can showcase a city that is open for business and to new and innovative ideas.
Diversity on the agenda: Make Cannes Colourful
Mipim has long held up a mirror to the industry’s lack of gender balance, with the streets of Cannes infamously overtaken by a sea of men in blue suits during the event. Organisations such as Real Estate Balance, along with the main event’s organiser RX France, have strived to address the inequality in recent years.
Annelies Kruidenier
This year, RX is going further. It is formally backing what started two years ago as an informal gathering of female Mipim attendees initiated by Annelies Kruidenier, senior talent acquisition specialist at real estate recruiter Oyster Partnership (pictured below), who has become a champion for women in the industry under her firm’s Leading from the Front campaign.
Make Cannes Colourful invites as many female Mipim attendees as possible to gather on Wednesday 11 March at Square Mérimée, wearing bright clothes. The intention is not only to provide an antidote to the sober suits but to celebrate “visibility, community and women showing up with confidence at Mipim”.