VIDEO | Morgan Sindall’s regeneration vision

Bolton is turning years of concepts and plans into real places that are transforming the town centre, the council’s leader said at a conference marking the start of a new wave of regeneration.

With the dust just beginning to settle on MIPIM 2026, managing partner Dino Moutsopoulos joined deputy editor Dan Whelan to look back on a busy week of networking events, interactive panels, and front-line news and ponder what next year has in store for the North of England and Scotland when their delegations return to Cannes.

This panel session explored how the North’s combination of land, skills, and collaboration gives it a compelling edge in the I&L sector, despite persistent challenges.

Stephen Young, Salford City Council chief executive, describes how Salford is a city transformed by a proven track record of major regeneration – bigger, younger, more diverse, and more dynamic than at any point in modern history.

Mark Robinson, director of economy and place at Rochdale Council, and Richard Jones, Northern Cities Executive at Arcadis, discuss two major developments in the borough.

Overcoming barriers to delivery and speeding up planning, and taking a collegiate approach to risk management and other processes are just a few of the ways to ensuring projects can make both a difference and a profit, according to participants at a roundtable hosted by WSP.

The UK’s renewed focus on new towns is prompting fresh debate about how to create places that thrive for generations. At a panel session hosted by Place North, industry leaders were tasked with a thought experiment: how would they design a settlement from scratch?

Stockport has recently become the UK’s first Mayoral Development Corporation to expand, tripling its footprint and doubling its housing target to 8,000 new homes.

The UK faces a two‑sided housing crisis: locations unviable for developers, rising costs squeezing out homebuyers. The urban fringe could hold the answer.

Mayors, city leaders, and Combined Authority officials from across the Midlands, the North of England, and Scotland used a roundtable hosted by Place North to argue that the UK’s next wave of growth will be driven by regional cities, highlighting opportunities in AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and housing, while calling for deeper devolution and stronger infrastructure investment.

Representatives from top investment firms, local authorities, and developers gathered to do business at MIPIM’s UK Stage on Tuesday morning.

Intervention is an essential attribute of the town centre masterplan and will be for the delivery of the Mayoral Development Corporation coming forward in 2026.

The development of the new ground and the surrounding area should celebrate the diversity of Old Trafford as an ‘incredibly welcoming place’, according to Cllr Tom Ross, Leader of Trafford.

With an integrated settlement due to land in April, increasing inward investment, and a growing pipeline of potentially transformative projects to deliver, now is the time for the city region to hit the accelerator, according to participants at a roundtable discussion hosted by Robertson Group.

Growth across the 10 boroughs that make up GM is outpacing the national average but leaders in places like Bolton, Oldham, and Rochdale are still fighting hard to overcome intracity region disparities. Participants at a roundtable discussion hosted by Euan Kellie Property Solutions explored how best to close the gap.

Embracing digital platforms allows the industry to easily and quickly connect companies with surplus soil with others who need it. MukAway is a construction tech start-up that does just that.

The town and wider borough has emerged as one of Greater Manchester’s most attractive investment propositions having pump-primed its regeneration pipeline, attendees at an event exploring investment opportunities in Oldham heard.

Hear about what is new at this year’s global property convention and get tips on how to make the most of the event by watching this video discussion between MIPIM’s UK director Jake Tappenden-Lowe and Place North’s Dino Moutsopoulos and Julia Hatmaker.

Overcoming the backlog maintenance headache, the role of NHS facilities in regeneration, and how a move towards a community-based model of care could shape our places were discussed at a recent roundtable hosted by Morgan Sindall Construction.