Derby takes centre stage at MIPIM

Confidence in Derby as an investment location is growing – that was the message received by the city at this year’s MIPIM.

Last week, ‘Team Derby’, which is made up of public and private sector partners, including Marketing Derby and Derby City Council, attended the international property investment exhibition in Cannes, France.

They were there to showcase investment opportunities in Derby city centre, sharing details of major schemes designed to increase footfall and create vibrancy.

They included the former Assembly Rooms site – and during a special MIPIM breakfast event, hosted by Team Derby, they revealed a brand-new image, which showed a potential vision for the building, which has stood empty for a decade.

Investors also learned about all the major city centre developments, which are set to come online in 2025 – dubbed Derby’s ‘olympic’ year.

Speaking at a MIPIM debrief event held in Derby this morning, Councillor Baggy Shanker, leader of the city council, said: “The main message I got from MIPIM this year was that there is confidence in Derby.

“It is seen as a place that just cracks on and gets things done.”

Bob Betts, chairman of Marketing Derby, who was part of the Team Derby delegation, said: “It was great to be able to share Derby’s investment pipeline with our partners, supporters and potential investors.

“2025 is set to be an incredibly exciting year for Derby, one which will see the transformation of our city centre kick into high gear.”

Many of the schemes pitched by Team Derby focused on the ‘cultural heart’ of the city.

In February, the city council announced VINCI UK Developments and ION Developments as its preferred development partner to drive forward plans for this ambitious regeneration project.

At the MIPIM breakfast event, Graham Lambert, managing director at VINCI and Steve Parry, managing director at ION, gave a presentation about the role they will be playing in shaping the city centre’s future.

During MIPIM, much was also done to put Derby on the radar of more investors, both at home and abroad.

For example, the city was included in the latest edition of Estates Gazette’s prestigious EG UK Cities Investor Guide, which was launched during the exhibition.

The guide is a bi-annual publication, which sets out some of the key challenges and opportunities facing the real estate investment market.

Amy Burton, inward investment executive at Marketing Derby, said: “Team Derby is delighted at the city’s inclusion in the prestigious EG UK Cities Investor Guide.

“Attracting tens of thousands of people from the global property investment community, MIPIM provided the perfect stage at which to launch such a guide.

“This influential publication showcases some of the UK’s greatest inward investment opportunities – and Derby’s inclusion helps to further put it on the radar of potential investors.”

Also, during MIPIM, Team Derby accepted an award for its foreign direct investment (FDI) strategy.

The city was recently placed third within the Top 10 Small European Cities for FDI Strategy category in the prestigious Financial Times’ fDi European Cities and Regions of the Future 2024 rankings.

The rankings recognise cities who have devised the best strategy for attracting foreign direct investment, and in its category, Derby was the highest ranked UK city.

The only cities placed higher than Derby this year were Cork, in Ireland, and Braga, in Portugal.

Christopher Tebbs, inward investment executive at Marketing Derby, said: “Team Derby is proud that the city has been ranked as having not only the best strategy for attracting overseas investment in the UK, but also the third best in Europe.

“In recent years, the city has been working extremely hard to diversify its economy, resulting in a number of major international businesses investing and making Derby their home.

“Success breeds success – and this award adds further credibility to our message that Derby welcomes investors from across the globe.”