My flight into Nice was delayed so all my plans to attend early evening receptions on Monday night were thwarted. The taxi driver then drove off with my coat, which wasn’t ideal as it’s freezing here at night.
I was late for our traditional Monday night Mipim dinner at Le Maschou hosted by real estate legend Harvey Soning. (Harvey, if you are reading this, thank you again for being such a generous host and apologies again for being late!) Once again, the life size crudités baskets were larger than the guests and we happily chomped through an impressive array of vegetables before even getting to the main course. I’m pleased to report that newly appointed Opportunity London CEO Jace Tyrrell arrived after I did, having been held up at his own reception. As is not unusual, Jace was bearing an appropriate photo ready sign, ‘London Bursting with Opportunity.’ It is really good to have Jace back at MIPIM in his new role as it has certainly been a quieter place without him.
The after-dinner challenge was getting back to my apartment as I’d rushed out in such a hurry that I hadn’t really focused on exactly where it was. There followed several fruitless circuits as all I knew was that it was in a back street off Rue d’Antibes somewhere behind the Mondrian Hotel. There are a lot of very similar looking blocks in that area with a myriad of different entrances! I found it eventually but honestly thought I was going to have to check into a hotel for the night which would have blown the budget, if indeed there is a room to spare in Cannes.
Tuesday morning was the excellent Women in Property breakfast on the beach, hosted by Crowe. The sun was shining and there was a great turn out, including a number of men. It was good to catch up again with Ross Ironside, head of commercial real estate at Coutts and with Laura Walker who was telling us about Camion, her exciting new clean energy start up which is using data to navigate the world of EV infrastructure.
I then sped down to the Palais to see Damian Wild’s Infrastructure Workshop session which in a first for MIPIM, was introduced by none other than, Srettha Thavsin, Prime Minister of Thailand who talked about the importance of infrastructure projects to the growth and prosperity of his country. According to Wikipedia Thavsin’s nickname is NID, he is a civil engineer by training and previously he ran a property company and is a leading real estate tycoon.
This year’s Mipim has been rebranded as a global urban festival as opposed to the international trade-show of old! Has it changed? It’s too early to tell but there have been a lot of comments about the strong Saudi and Neom presence. I was keen to know more about Neom, Saudi’s futuristic new city so I went onto the stand and it is indeed mind blowing. They seem to be building not one but several new cities from scratch. There were 3D viewings and films and it’s definitely worth a look.
Sadly we have no UK Pavilion this year but our UK cities are well represented and the London stand, which has moved along from its usual position and has finally lost its rickety steps, has been rejuvenated by the presence of Opportunity London and the return of the London model. it was great to see a lot of activity and enthusiasm for promotion of London projects which hasn’t always been the case over the last few years of MIPIM.
Thank you Zac Goodman and the team at TSP for a fab al fresco lunch at La Petite Maison which has now moved from the Majestic and down the coast to Palm Beach. The sun shone brightly enough to send some of us scurrying for shade. Lunch was a real treat with great food, disruptive company and entertaining stories.
On the walk back into Cannes it was good to run into Vincent Tchenguiz, just as we were reminiscing about MIPIMs past.
Next stop was the Avison Young Aperitif party which was in full swing. I initially mistook the adjacent and rather sedate Swiss Life stand for Avison Young but quickly realised I was in the wrong place. I was delighted to be reunited with my latest Propertyshe podcast guest, UK President Nick Walkley who was in full host mode and fortunately seemed to be happy with our recording. It was good to catch up with Avison Young Co-managing directors Kat Hanna and Adrian Boyce. And credit to Avison Young for not only bringing the whole UK team down by train, but having their own branded train carriage to boot!
My final event was a Mishcon de Reya dinner with a carefully selected group of guests who got on famously well. Thank you Honor Barratt, Jacob Loftus, Tom Bloxham, Sadie Malim, Joseph Rajah, James Saunders and Michela Hancock for being such perfect guests. And, as an added bonus, we managed to detain BTR pioneer Darryl Flay from another table and he regaled us with some great stories which may feature in an upcoming podcast. There was a lot of laughter which is a sign of a good evening. Some conversation highlights were around the vital importance of not losing your grip and how to make intergenerational living work successfully. Honor Barratt we look forward to an update next year! And thank you L’Affable for some of the best food in Cannes!
No comments yet