Senate’s John Walsh and Chris Walsh were in Leeds for the fast-growing real estate event UKREiiF and came away energised with new knowledge, inspiration, insights and connections.
One of the standout sessions was a discussion sponsored by calfordseaden on achieving the government’s NetZero target by 2050 and Manchester’s eye-popping goal of doing so 18 years sooner.
It featured insights from Housing Minister Lee Rowley and Fiona Fletcher-Smith, Chief Executive of housing association L&Q, who emphasised the need for a big leap forward in skills, technology and planning rules to meet these targets.
We think the changes required across the UK to hit the 2050 mark will be seismic, which makes Manchester’s goal look even more ambitious.
A speaker from Barking and Havering highlighted the scale of the challenge by noting that 40% of residential stock is pre-1942. We wonder about the implications for historical buildings and whether they should be exempt from the targets or treated differently in the statistics.
This was Senate Director John’s second trip to UKREiiF, which takes place at the impressive Royal Armouries, and this time he was accompanied by Chris, our head of contract and commercial.
The event, now in its third year, comprises a conference, seminars, exhibitions and wall-to-wall networking opportunities within the Royal Armouries and at multiple venues across the city centre.
Inside the exhibition hall, sheltered from a Yorkshire downpour on day two, John and Chris saw a noticeable increase in smaller businesses with stands, particularly of technology and software vendors.
Senate’s suggestion to make the exhibition hall more vibrant and interactive would be to allow exhibitors to showcase their service offerings and innovations. This would make the hall more interactive and inviting.
With more than 12,000 delegates, 800 speakers across 40 stages and 150 exhibitors, UKREiiF effectively showcased the power of innovation, collaboration, and forward thinking.
It was also a fantastic opportunity to make new connections and strengthen existing ones.
Our team came away from Leeds feeling enthused, inspired and optimistic about the future.
It was great to see familiar faces and reconnect with industry leaders and prominent organisations including the outstanding law practice Freeths, award-winning consultancy calfordseaden, Vincent Architects, Frankham Group, Green Structural Engineers, We Are Queenswood, building surveyors Earl Kendrick, EV Chargers, Travelodge, Blow-Up Media, architects Grieg+Stephenson, Lawray Architects, Spatial Dimensions and development and personal tax advisors Saffery LLP.
Pictures curtesy of UKREiiF
