Keir Edmonds, Group Managing Director, MCS
“This is our first year at MIPIM and we came here on several fronts.
“We are keen to raise our profile as we are on an ambitious expansion plan so we need to be as well known in the industry as possible and this is the perfect stage to ensure that happens.
“There have been three of us out here. My two colleagues have been out making contacts with developers, land owners and other industry professionals from across the country while I have concentrated on building stronger relationships with those closer to home.
“From what I have seen at MIPIM, Coventry and Warwickshire manages a very strong presence. I really wanted to know what I was signing up to, so I attended all the pre-event briefings and that has proved to be very useful and meant I had developed some strong relationships before heading out to the show.
“Not only has it allowed me to meet new contacts which could prove very useful going forward but has also given me a handle on quite how much is going on in our region. We would, as a company, be very foolish to ignore that.
“The major announcement early in the week was around the relocation of Homes England to Friargate with reportedly 400 jobs coming to Coventry and that is really positive news and meant that Coventry and Warwickshire was centre stage to a very wide audience.
“Talking to others, I don’t think all regions are either as joined-up or offer as much opportunity to partners as Coventry and Warwickshire appear to do.
“Events such as MIPIM are always difficult to quantify and often the benefits do not become clear for several months. Also, quite often what seem to be incidental meetings can develop into far more over the months.
“My impressions have certainly been positive – both of the potential which clearly still exists in the market and also how energetic our area is and how hard it is working to leverage any opportunity.
I am confident we will be back in 2020.”