Reflections from UKREiiF 2025
For the past three years, Leeds has seen people gather from across the built environment for the annual UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF). Every year the atmosphere dictates sentiments on the health of the industry.
The political and economic climate in the past year has presented the industry with some challenging times. The tariffs from the US have left investors with further anxiety. But market fluctuations are something the industry has proven it can adapt to. There was an overall sense of optimism for the future of the industry as certain regions are seeing an increase in investments.
This year we had over fifteen representatives from Cundall attend the conference and fringe events, some have shared their reflections on UKREiiF 2025.
Dave Rivers, Partner
It was my first time at UKREiiF and having taken a couple of hours to get my head around just how many people were there and how much was going on, it was a really rewarding and productive experience. It was great to meet so many new faces and catch up with old ones, particularly as everyone was there with networking in mind.
Across the two days, my general takeaway was that while the market is currently pretty tough, there are growing signs of optimism that the outlook in the coming months is positive. There certainly seem to be lots of opportunities out there, and hopefully the clarity that upcoming funding announcements will help to turn these into real projects.
It was also pleasing to hear that refurbishment and net zero seem to be increasingly high on everyone’s agenda across a wide range of sectors, with the potential for quicker turnaround of space in the workplace sector. Hopefully this will result in an increasing number of opportunities for repurposing existing assets in creative ways.
Kevin McGee, Head of Geoenvironmental Engineering
Despite the pre-event optimism, the North East Combined Authority were visibly unsure how the North East’s offer would land at UKREiiF this year, but they need not have worried. A series of strong presentations from the offshore and energy sector, together with a polished Q&A session with the North East’s largest new investor, QTS, left no one in any doubt of the investment potential within the region. But it wasn’t all easy chatter, there is nervousness over the new political landscape in County Durham and the way many investors are reacting to that, and the age-old issues of the North East being bottom of the list of national infrastructure investment raised its head routinely. Tag Greason of QTS’ incredibly positive stance that ‘we are in the northeast because of what it offers, not because of any government intervention’ certainly grabbed the happy headlines; but there was much talk of government reform and investment around energy and infrastructure taking far too long; and holding the region back.
Alex Carter, Partner:
Each year the attendance and energy at UKREiiF continually increases. The sentiment at the conference this year was generally upbeat, notwithstanding the issues around the Building Safety Act. Developers and architects from across the UK are actively trying to enter local markets. I spent a significant amount of time in the West Midlands pavilion and there was optimism with projects no longer being on hold and investment into the area increasing.
In terms of presence, it is worth noting that every engineering, architectural practice and developer that operates in wet midlands was present. Additionally, the West Midland stands saw several London architects looking at how to enter the market.
The centerpiece of the conference was local authorities, as they were creating innovation/investment districts looking for private funding to invest in their area. This resulted in public sectors from across the UK to be very well represented and they enticed funds into their areas.
