David Wheeler, Group Business Development Director at McLaren Construction
We arrive at MIPIM on the back of a good year and, as ever, we are looking to strengthen relationships and strike up new contacts during the week.
I have responsibility for our Birmingham operation which works across the Midlands, and we teamed up with the Coventry and Warwickshire MIPIM Partnership because we had seen the way it punched above its weight at MIPIM, and the way it worked so well with partners.
And we come to MIPIM on the back of a very good year, I am glad to say.
Our Birmingham operation turned over more than £110 million last year and we grew our staff to around 90 people, which is the largest we have been since setting up just over nine years ago.
That growth has come from a variety of sectors. We have completed work for Jaguar Land Rover at Solihull which has been around the production of the XE, and we are currently working on two major schemes at Banbury and Northampton.
The continued growth of Jaguar Land Rover and automotive engineering has undoubtedly been good for Coventry and Warwickshire, directly through that sector but also in associated ones such as construction.
I said last year that it was key that the area did not become over-reliant on automotive and that still has to be the case but having become involved with Coventry and Warwickshire through MIPIM, I know that there is more to the area.
There has clearly been considerable investment on infrastructure in and around Coventry and Warwickshire in the last couple of years and that will not only help industry once the schemes are completed but will also have been a considerable boost to construction.
MIPIM is different for towns and cities than it is for private sector companies. We are there to build relationships which we hope will bear fruit in the future. That is, of course, true of cities as well but they also have to project a positive image to attract investment.
They have to show that they are very much open for business.
Coventry and Warwickshire is doing that through a string of events which the partners will support and to which we can bring guests who might be useful to us and also the area.
What follows when we return is equally important – following up on those contacts is vital to really making the sizeable commitment really worthwhile.