Big news from MIPIM: navy suits are on the way out, charcoal grey tailoring is in the ascendant, and casual wear is even gaining a trainer-clad toe-hold at the annual international property conference.
There were also a few more skirts in evidence this year, an indicator of female attendance, rather than any kind of gender nonconformity – it may be 2023, but we are still talking about MIPIM (Le Marché International des Professionnels de L’immobilier) here.
MIPIM will rarely pass the Bechdel test (two named women speaking to each other about something other than men) but in the spirit of embracing and encouraging progress where we can find it, an incremental shuffle towards gender parity is something.
I don’t mention this purely to stick it to the 23,000-or-so MIPIM lads that descended on Cannes for four days this March (the so-named Twitter account does a fine job of that).
It matters because the event has an outsize impact on London – the streets we walk down, the public transport we take, the offices we work in and the homes we live in are all shaped at MIPIM.
If all the decisions are being made and deals struck by a homogenous group of investors, developers, urban planners, chartered surveyors and architects, then our built environment faces inevitable limitations.
Among transformational MIPIM moments of yore is the first ever meeting about the King’s Cross redevelopment, which is said to have happened there. As such, it’s a good place to garner an insight into what London’s got in store.
Gone are the days when every local authority would send a delegation to woo the big bucks over champagne and on yachts, all captured faithfully by the nearest long-angle lens. The optics weren’t great, even if there was genuine work being done.
The official event is hosted in the labyrinthine Palais des Festivals, where various cities, countries and real estate companies set up stands to show themselves off, spilling out on to La Croisette where those places that really want to show off in the sun – including London – position their tents.
Most of London’s real estate investment comes from foreign dealmakers, even if the proportion has dropped post-Brexit and, judging by the gloomy chat, seems unlikely to pick up soon.
One point of paranoia at this year’s event was Paris, their pavilion next door twice as big as London’s and at least twice as sexy (and this despite the bin strikes that has turned the French capital into a giant rubbish heap).
Sure, they are riding the Olympic wave – bonjour 2024 – but the idea that the city “is learning from London’s successful Olympics legacy” felt like small consolation on a London stand looking mournfully across at Paris’s heaving terrasse.
Britain’s recent political woes were another bone of contention – several attendees quipped that this was the first time they had ever heard the property industry calling for a Labour government.
The Truss government is said to have put the wind up several potential investors in its 44-day whirlwind, destroying the capital’s reputation as a safe haven for cash thanks to its temperate political climate. “A worse impact than Brexit,” was at least one damning verdict.
While London used to be able to sell itself as an entity detached from the rest of the country, there was a widespread feeling that it was struggling to tell a convincing story about itself as it emerges from Covid and lockdowns.
The persistence of working from home, low productivity figures and a perception of the capital as dangerous, with high levels of crime and homelessness, are all acting as a deterrent to international wealth.
Combined with a government that won’t back the capital, other UK cities are making a concerted effort to lure investors away from London – Belfast and Newcastle were wooing visitors with Guinness and Newcastle Brown Ale, palate cleansers after a week of champagne.
But there was still a perception (at least among biased Londoners) that on an international level, the capital remains the gateway to other regions, part of a UK package for someone who may have absolutely no idea where to place Gateshead on a map – at least not yet.
None of this is to say the capital has fallen off the agenda altogether – far from it. It remains the “most talked about city in Europe” according to a report by ING Media released during MIPIM week, topping the consultancy’s digital visibility ranking among 60 of its European rivals. The research pointed to a direct correlation between digital visibilty, soft power and foreign direct investment.
It is also the place businesses go to experiment and to find initiatives prepared to throw themselves into new technologies, especially when it comes to climate change and materials.
Post-Brexit, Truss and Covid, London can no longer sit back and wait for the money to come to it. A lot of people will be doing a lot of work this year in the hope London can tell a compelling tale in 2024.
