MIPIM | Building the North: Unlocking the power of partnership

As the North of England delegation gathers at MIPIM, it’s great to see how much optimism and ambition is in the air, writes Sam Heyes of Mountain Earth. There’s no doubt that our regional 2026/27 pipelines are busier than ever, with multi-billion-pound investments for everything from Manchester’s skyline to the regeneration of our coastal towns.

Yet, for those of us responsible for delivery, a bold vision is only half the story. The real challenge facing the North is how we bridge the gap between ambitious plans and the reality of the build. While a busy pipeline signals the region’s intent, the focus must shift to the actual mechanics of delivery. That means understanding how to navigate the volatile planning and regulatory landscape, securing sustainable supply chains, and ensuring that clients’ capital investment contributes to the growth of a thriving Northern economy.

Understanding the new regulatory landscape

At the heart of this delivery is the Building Safety Act. I don’t think anyone in our industry would dispute the need for stronger safety standards and better oversight. But there’s also no doubt that it’s created challenges, including planning bottlenecks and the unintended impacts on where, what, and how clients are prepared to build. However, while the transition to these rigorous approvals requires a shift in how we plan and execute, it also provides a clear roadmap for quality for how client-contractor relationships can be most effective. As these regulations inevitably roll out across projects of all sizes in the future, the industry must move beyond thinking about them in terms of compliance and instead embrace a culture of total transparency. That begins with principal contractors being involved at the earliest stage of projects, as true partners whose strategic input provides the technical certainty needed to de-risk the entire development lifecycle.

‘The region’s success will be driven by the quality of what we deliver’. Credit: Nicola Thompson Photography

Delivering accountability

The industry reaction to these changes has been hesitation and uncertainty. We see projects stalling and developers pivoting away from high-rise schemes simply to bypass the perceived “red tape.” But the reality is that the government’s focus on accountability – the idea behind the  Golden Thread’ – is here to stay. It is only a matter of time before these standards from 18-metre buildings are applied to smaller projects.

At Mountain Earth, we don’t view the Building Safety Act as an external hurdle to be cleared. We have internalised these requirements as our business norms. By adopting this level of rigour across all our work, we insulate our clients from the bottlenecks that have brought other projects to a standstill. We believe that if you aren’t already operating with this level of transparency, you’re already behind, and that goes for clients as well as contractors.

Partnership by design

This shift in accountability demands a fundamental change in the client-contractor relationship. The traditional model, where a contractor is brought in late to execute a pre-fixed design, is ill-equipped for a regime that requires full design sign-off before a spade hits the ground.

Our work with Starwood Capital at Treehouse Hotels in Manchester represents this different way of working. Entering the project at a critical juncture, we moved away from the us-and-them dynamic and instead embedded our team directly into theirs. We were able to get under the skin of every facet of the site, unpicking the existing challenges and helping the client re-scope the job from first principles.

Mountain Earth worked on Treehouse in Manchester. Credit: Nicola Thompson Photography

At Treehouse, we have addressed the technical and logistical complexities of the development long before they could become issues on site. This proactive alignment is exactly how we provide the certainty the current market demands, and it mirrors the rigour required to navigate Gateway 2 hurdles effectively.

Our approach is to apply a level of diligence that transcends specific building categories. While much of the current regulatory focus remains on the residential sector, we treat high standards of documentation and accountability as the default for all complex, high-occupancy projects. By doing so, we ensure the asset is future-proofed against evolving standards, protecting the client’s long-term value from day one.

Building a Northern legacy

Ultimately, the success and growth of our region will be defined by the quality and safety of what we actually deliver. At MIPIM, the conversation often focuses on “what we are building”. At Mountain Earth, we are here to talk about “how we are building it”. By embracing these standards as part of our business-as-usual, we ensure our clients are never “caught out” by shifting regulations. We’re proud to be playing our part in building a North that is not just ambitious, but resilient, accountable and ready for whatever the future brings.

• Sam Heyes is managing director of Mountain Earth