Manchester has been attending MIPIM in force for 20 years. Andy Burnham’s brigade has been at the forefront. The city shells out a lot of money for a huge pavilion on the promenade outside the Palais des Festivals conference centre.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham was elected amid fanfare about Manchesterism and the city’s revitalisation as the great powerhouse of the northern England.
The former Manchester mayor and his go-ahead city advisers have left Scottish cities in their wake by regularly attending a glamorous property convention by the sea.
Welcome to Cannes.
Every May, this seaside city on the French Riviera hosts the Cannes Film Festival, where the red carpet is rolled out for Hollywood superstars.
Champagne is sipped and movies are premiered, while filmmakers mingle with the great and good of cinema and television in the hope of funding their projects.
Less likely to be featured on the pages of Vanity Fair, but no less important to the world of property, is the global trade show MIPIM (Le Marché international des professionnels de l’immobilier), held in the milder month of March.
Billed as the world’s premier real estate, urban planning and property trade show, MIPIM is the biggest annual touchstone for the global property world. Each year it draws 20,000 delegates from 90 countries.
MIPIM’s location on the glamorous French Riviera has made politicians stay away for fears they’ll be seen to be gallivanting off on a champagne-swigging junket
How Manchester turned MIPIM into an investment pitch
Manchester has been attending MIPIM in force for 20 years. Burnham’s brigade has been at the forefront. The city shells out a lot of money for a huge pavilion on the promenade outside the Palais des Festivals conference centre — the expo’s prime real estate.
Here the city’s leading lights, a joint force made up of the public and private sectors, and the odd celebrity such as football pundit and property developer Gary Neville, mingle with key players in the global property world.
All of the city’s major investment opportunities are showcased at MIPIM, including the £7.3bn Old Trafford regeneration project, featuring 15,000 new homes around a new 100,000-capacity stadium for Manchester United.
The message to investors is clear. Manchester is open for business: invest here. International investment is seen as a big reason why the city economically outpaces others.
Why Scotland has been missing from Cannes
By contrast, Scotland’s presence at MIPIM has been piecemeal. There hasn’t been a Manchester-style delegation from Scotland since 2019. Back then, a joint public-private delegation brought together the big players from the Scottish property world.
Thankfully, that’s about to change with Scottish Enterprise priming the pot with a £100,000 grant to encourage the private sector’s backing. The value of going to MIPIM has never been in doubt for the Scottish private sector.
What is surprising is that Scottish ministers spent a lot of money and time in Boston and New York flying the Saltire for Scotland during the men’s World Cup. While the Tartan Army has been proven ambassadors, there has been no clear indication that having ministers on the ground wearing Scotland’s kit drives sustainable economic development.
What Scottish property leaders gain from MIPIM
For Chris Dougray, founder of Dougray, a real estate adviser and chairman of the Edinburgh Development & Investment Forum, the benefits of attending MIPIM are clear and obvious.
[Read about Chris Dougray’s latest round table seminar on the temporary accommodation and housing crisis in Scotland also featured in the Autumn edition of The Business magazine and online here].
“I’ve found it to be an unrivalled networking opportunity. With good preparation, you can pretty much meet anybody in the global world of real estate. Three or four of my largest clients have all come from MIPIM. People are there to meet people,” he says.
Another frequent visitor down the years has been Stuart Patrick, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. Patrick is a leading figure in the Team Glasgow response to real estate development and regeneration, working closely with Glasgow City Council and its former leader Susan Aitken.
One of the things I’ve always found useful is that you can see what other projects are happening around the world
— Stuart Patrick
“One of the things I’ve always found useful, that is underestimated, is that you and your team can collectively see what other projects are happening around the world. Then we will usually come home afterwards and say we’ve got a bit of work to do here, or perhaps we’ve spotted an opportunity,” says Patrick, who began his career in economic development in Glasgow.
Patrick points to MIPIM seeding the idea for Glasgow’s innovation districts, where public and private sector investment have come together to turn the city into a global leader in fintech and the space and satellite industry.
The case for a united Scottish presence
Stewart Rutherford, managing director of the construction consultancy PMP, believes sending a unified Scottish presence to MIPIM is essential.
“The importance of having representatives from the Scottish government and local authorities at places like MIPIM alongside the private sectors shows that we as a country are up for this. It gives the pitch far more kudos and tells the world that Scotland is open for business.
“You’ve got to look at the success Manchester has had with a unified showing from the public and private sectors and learn from that.”
The importance of having representatives from the Scottish government and local authorities shows that we as a country are up for this
— Stewart Rutherford
Can the public sector justify the cost of Cannes?
MIPIM’s location on the glamorous French Riviera has made local and national politicians stay away for fears they’ll be seen to be gallivanting off on a champagne-swigging, sun-kissed junket at the taxpayer’s expense.
It is pricey: a single ticket for the full conference programme, including four main stages and seven pavilion deep dives and thematic summits costs €1,710 (£1,471). But for those looking at taking a stand – or even a pavilion – this soon mounts up to tens of thousands, plus the cost of flights and accommodation. There are obvious questions about whether this is a good use of public money.
Patrick says: “Presumably
budgetary constraints in the public sector have been an issue for government. The thinking would be ‘can we show the direct benefits of going to this event’? And the answer is, ‘maybe not immediately, but you never know how the interactions you have there will play out’.
“We, as a chamber of commerce, have always said you need the political leadership out there to give your pitch credibility. It is more difficult for the political leadership to make the commitment, although I’ve noticed that most other countries and cities from around the world that promote themselves at MIPIM don’t seem to have the same issue.”
By contrast, the optics for the public sector attending a domestic rival to MIPIM in Leeds, The UK Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum, are easier. The Scottish Cities Alliance, a public body, has hosted a large pavilion there in recent years.
Other UK cities make their pitch to global investors
But for the rest of the UK, the benefits of attending MIPIM are clear – and not just in Manchester.
London has a large presence there as you might expect. But so too do the northern powerhouses of Newcastle and Liverpool, with hopes of getting investors excited by their regeneration and infrastructure projects. Cardiff and Belfast attend in force too.
MIPIM is where the international money is. If you want funding for your hotels, ports and arenas, you’ve got to go there and promote yourself
— Dino Moutsopoulos
“MIPIM is where the international money is. If you want funding for your hotels, ports and arenas, you’ve got to go there and promote yourself,” explains Dino Moutsopoulos, managing partner and head of commercial at Place Media Group.
In recent years, Moutsopoulos and his team coordinated a dedicated exhibition space for the North of England at MIPIM, uniting regional local authorities and major companies to showcase investment opportunities in the region.
How Scotland returned to MIPIM — and what comes next
Their success in France came to the attention of Stewart Rutherford at PMP and other key players in Scottish property. A dinner was arranged for business leaders in Edinburgh, where the possibility of organising something similar for Scotland was discussed.
It became clear that Scottish businesses believed the country should have a consistent presence at MIPIM year on year. This year Place Media Group organised a stand for Scotland at MIPIM as part of the expo’s UK Hub exhibition.
It was chiefly funded by the Scottish private sector but also attended by members of local authorities and the Scottish Government. For the first time in seven years, Scotland showed a small, but united, front at the world’s premier property event.
The delegation that travelled to Cannes included Dougray from the Edinburgh Development & Investment Forum, and city leaders from Glasgow and Dundee city councils. Councillor Mark Flynn, leader of Dundee City Council, was clear that journeying to Cannes and flying the flag for Scotland was value for money.
“We weren’t sure what to expect, but we came back with a lot of ideas and thoughts for next year. The scale of the event blew me away. It takes time to build contacts. It’s not going to happen overnight. We had a number of positive meetings that we hope will benefit the city of Dundee.”
Flynn was partnered by James Williamson, Dundee’s principal officer for companies and investment. For both, a uniform Scotland approach, rather than separate regional offerings, is important for selling Scotland internationally.
“It needs to be a Scotland-wide approach, having that united front is a real requirement for attracting international investment,” he says.
Flynn adds: “A ‘Team Scotland’ approach is probably fair because every area of the country can be taken into consideration: each area of the country offers different opportunities.”
Richard Rollison, director of international trade and investment at the Scottish Government, also travelled to the event. His presence has raised hopes that John Swinney’s government will take a far stronger lead next year.
“The fact that you’re getting an organic private sector proposition, I think that’s incredibly encouraging. I think it tells us something about the market expressing its desires in a way that makes it easier for the government to respond,” says Patrick.
“For 2027 it is important that the public and private sectors continue to work together as a team – we’re looking for new delegates to join up. We’ve done the hard part in getting started, now we need to push on,” says Rutherford.
It has taken frustrated business leaders to get moving on bringing Scotland back to MIPIM. Now with Scottish Enterprise stepping up, it will allow international leadership that makes a difference.
This article is featured in the Autumn 2026 edition of The Business magazine.
Distributed with The Sunday Times Scotland.
FAQs
What is MIPIM?
MIPIM is an annual international real estate and urban development trade show held in Cannes, bringing together investors, developers and public sector leaders.
Why does Manchester attend MIPIM?
Manchester uses the event to present major investment opportunities to international investors. Its public and private sector representatives have attended together for around 20 years.
Why has Scotland’s presence at MIPIM been limited?
Scotland had no comparable joint delegation between 2019 and its return this year. The article points to public sector costs and concern about how a trip to Cannes might be perceived.
What changed for Scotland this year?
A mainly privately funded Scottish stand brought businesses, local authorities and Scottish Government representatives together at MIPIM. Scottish Enterprise has also pledged £100,000 to encourage further private sector backing.
What is the aim for 2027?
Those involved want a larger, consistent “Team Scotland” presence that can present opportunities from across the country to international investors.
