Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately!) this year the M-I-P-I-M in MIPIM did not stand for ‘Massive-International -Piss-up -In -March’! Instead it was a rather sober affair.
No longer like a student Freshers Week for surveyors, whom in past years I’ve watched late at night eyeing up and chatting up the six foot tall blondes working the Croisette, wanting to warn that if they took them home, they might be in for a surprise and the beautiful Francoise they were talking to (with a rather large Adam’s apple) looked to me more like a ‘Frank’! But on reflection leaving them to it with the thought they will probably both get what they deserve (and might even enjoy it!)
This year was quieter than ever, not only on the Croisette but large areas of the bunker were unsold. The mood was sober, the market is much more stable than last year and there is more good news out there than bad including many London stories of values back near the peak, driven up by overseas buyers. However any good news was drowned out by everyone talking about a possible double dip and the effects of post election public sector cuts.
Some people love it and some people hate it but I have always found MIPIM very useful. Over the few days I’ve had 27 meetings, three lunches and four dinners. I’ve hosted two parties and played a DJ set! I have met with Chief Executives, leaders of councils, heads of funders and joint venture partners and compared war wounds with other developers! I’ve cemented some existing relationships, done a couple of deals (I hope!) and got a few good new ideas.
However sober is not always good. The MIPIM drinking did always solve one problem for me; I am really, really bad at remembering names and faces. One way to sort this a friend explained, was if ever you meet someone from the property industry who seems vaguely familiar but you cant place them you can always try the favoured “Oh we met in MIPIM” line and chances are they’d either a) have met you in MIPIM b) think they might have met you but can’t remember because they’d had a drink or three or c) they’ve never been to MIPIM but didn’t want to say so!
But I must admit after a hard schedule the drink was calling me. On Thursday, after hosting a party at my house and letting of dozens of beautiful lit magic lanterns into the hills we all went back into Cannes where I played a ‘Hang The DJ’ set; Dexy’s Come on Eileen, The Clash’s Rock the Casbah and Joy Divison’s Love Will Tear Us Apart. I had a drink or three and enjoyed myself. On the final Friday when I hosted a relaxed BBQ at my house for my friends (and the odd gatecrasher!) the sun came out, my pool filled up and another developer showed off his ‘portfolio’ which not all of the guests were impressed by!
The last two years have been very tough for all of us developers. I started this business in the last recession with a great product, great people and new ideas. I am determined to grow Urban Splash and make the most of the great opportunities that lie before us. We’ve still got the great people and the great product and I found a few new good ideas last week.
So I now have a pocket full of cards to follow up on, lots of jokes about my rather loud checked Tom Ford suit – the biggest ‘cheques’ seen in MIPIM this year (why was I the only one told to wear fancy dress?). I still don’t know who the excellent MIPIM tweeter Twipim is but all in all enjoyed a pleasant week, and spent a very pleasant few days my house with my favourite 89 years young architect Antti Lovag who I was lucky enough to have inherited with the house!
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Filed under: Tom Bloxham MBE, Urban Splash - tags: MIPIM
1 Comment
We felt the market sentiment was more positive this year. Some were sober as you say but our proprietary analysis of the MIPIM buzz shows that words such as ‘recovery’, ‘improved’ and ‘hope’ have increased in use compared with a year ago, outnumbering negative expressions such as ‘crisis’, ‘problems’ and ‘recession’.” And the word ‘party’ has re-appeared, but the flutes were half full this year versus half empty last year and the “Gin and Panic” of two years ago.” To see more about the sentiment in Cannes you could visit http://www.creopoint.com/forum/topics/creopoint-kpmg-study-confirms