The Aire Valley Leeds enterprise zone, the Leeds large casino Licence and Bradford’s city centre growth zone are amongst the major opportunities to be highlighted by the Leeds City Region delegation at MIPIM, the major property and development convention held in Cannes (6th – 9th March).
Flagship projects including Bradford’s new City Park, the new Leeds Arena and the £350 million Trinity Leeds retail and leisure development will also be showcased during the week.
A delegation of public and private sector partners will attend the MIPM 2012 convention. Neil McLean, Chair of the Leeds City Region local enterprise partnership (LEP), will head the delegation, alongside representatives from Irwin Mitchell and Addleshaw Goddard.
Muse Developments, Evans of Leeds and Keyland – key landowners and developers within the Aire Valley Leeds enterprise zone – are also sponsoring the city region delegation.
The delegation has a full programme over the three day event and will use a series of developer and investor forums, private dinners and a keynote breakfast briefing to promote the city region internationally and to engage with investors. More than 4,000 potential investors are expected to attend MIPIM 2012.
Speakers include Ashley Blake, Director of Retail Portfolio for Land Securities, Matt Crompton, Joint Managing Director, Muse Developments and Stephen Kennard, Director of Land and Development at the London Development Agency.
Exhibition stand sessions during MIPIM 2012 will also enable delegates to find out more about opportunities presented by the Aire Valley Leeds enterprise zone and Bradford’s city centre ‘growth zone’, which offer a package of incentives designed to stimulate investment, attract business and create jobs.
Delegates will also be able to find out more about the Leeds large casino licence which recently went out to the market and is attracting widespread interest from potential operators and developers.
The Leeds City Region stand will be situated in the Palais des Festivals (Level 01, Stand No.16.16/18.3) and will be fully equipped with wifi and meeting areas to enable delegates to use it as a business hub
Jean Dent, interim chief executive of Marketing Leeds, which is coordinating the city’s presence at MIPIM, said:
“MIPIM plays an important role in demonstrating the strength of the city region’s offer on an international stage and allows us to engage directly with a significant number of key investors. Our stand events and seminars are now a respected element of the MIPIM programme and I am delighted that the private sector is once again working with us to create a high profile programme that will create maximum impact and help attract investment to Leeds and the city region.”
Neil McLean added: “MIPIM provides an excellent opportunity to promote and attract investment to our city region and our cities have joined forces once more to showcase the diversity of investment opportunities .
The Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone, Bradford’s Growth Zone, the arena, and the casino license are examples of major investment opportunities and will demonstrate that the city region is a substantial and growing economy with plenty to offer despite the challenging economic times.
The Leeds City Region is a strong and successful economy with a diverse business base, skilled workforce and a cost effective property market. We are the ideal location for investment and we intend to make a compelling case for the city region to as many of the 20,000 potential investors and key decision makers as possible.
Leeds City Region is the largest English city region outside London, with a £53 billion economy that generates 5% of UK GVA. It is home to a resident population of 3 million, over 100,000 businesses and has the largest concentration of universities in Europe.
