MIPIM | Themes from Cannes in 2025

As the dust settles on another MIPIM, here is a rundown of the themes that crept up time and time again throughout the week.

The rain

It was hard to escape the rain at MIPIM 2025 – both literally and in conversation. The downpour on Tuesday night was particularly nasty, accompanied as it was by thunder and lightning. It was a particular shock to the system for MIDAS managing director Joe Manning, Manchester City Council leader Bev Craig, and GM Mayor Andy Burnham who flew into a soggy Cannes from dry and sunny Austin, where they had been attending South by Southwest.

In typical fashion, Brits of all stripes were keen to claim the rain as their own. London Mayor Sadiq Khan used his keynote speech on the Monday to apologise to delegates for “bringing the weather with him”, while any UK-based speaker who happened to take the stage throughout the week was equally sure sorry for the dreary conditions. Those who brought umbrellas strutted around Cannes looking smug but the street vendors selling them were the real winners.

The ageing problem

The issue of construction’s ageing workforce cropped up repeatedly at MIPIM 2025, as did the wider issue of an increasingly elderly population. The problem will likely not manifest itself for a good few years, but the message heard in Cannes was that now is the time to be taking action. Children born in Germany in 2002 have a 30% chance of making it to 100, while the median age of a European citizen right now is 45.

This presents all kinds of issues, not least an exacerbation of the skills crisis. Such is the scale of the dilemma, nations around the globe are coming up with initiatives to encourage people to have children, such is the concern about the long- term impact of ageing. Professor Jane Falkingham, who gave a speech on the opening day at MIPIM on these demographic challenges said the property industry needs to think seriously about how it is readying itself for the ageing crisis and urged it to ramp up provision of accommodation that can be retrofitted for the elderly.

Law firm Trowers & Hamlins is alive to this issue, and used MIPIM to launch the findings of a study into the scale of the ageing dilemma and what the residential sector needs to do to tackle it.

Community, community, community

Gone are the days when MIPIM was all about announcing shiny skyscrapers and large-scale developments. The importance of community consultation and securing buy-in from stakeholders was a constant theme of panel discussions at MIPIM. Developers and local authorities now more than ever recognise that the route to delivery cannot be traversed successfully without bringing locals along for the ride.

Acknowledging the impacts of regeneration on existing communities and convincing them of the benefits appears to be front and centre of the development process. In London, a ballot process has been introduced to give residents a voice; only when a scheme secures majority buy-in can it progress. Given the mood in Cannes, it is likely that this model, or something similar could crop up in other locations in the not-too-distant future.

Manchester United’s new stadium plans stole the headlines this week. Credit: Manchester United plc

Defining moment for the North

Old Trafford regeneration took centre stage at MIPIM this year. The UK Stage auditorium was packed out to hear from Lord Sebastian Coe, GM Mayor Andy Burnham, Man United COO Collette Roche, and Trafford Leader Cllr Tom Ross about how the plans could transform not only the home of arguably the world’s biggest football team but create what Coe described as “the greatest stadium in the world”.

While delegates marvelled at the concept designs for the stadium, crafted by Norman Foster, Burnham became visibly emotional when describing what the scheme signalled for the North and for him personally. “This is the defining thing of my political career. It’s why I came into politics,” he said.

Living

The living sector dominated conversations at MIPIM this week and talk of a “wall of institutional capital” waiting to be deployed could be heard in every corner of the Palais. The housing crisis is by no means an issue just for the UK. The whole world is grappling with challenge of providing new and better homes for citizens – the exception being Finland, which, due to a relaxed regulatory environment, finds itself with a surplus of homes in some of its cities, according to Nrep’s Joonas Lemstrom. For the rest of the world, the week was spent extolling the virtues of cities and their suitability for large scale investment into housing. Those locations with strong fundamentals – high graduate retention and stable governance – will likely prevail.

The Trump effect

Erratic policy announcements from the US are having a bearing on investor confidence across the world. The US stock market does not know whether it is coming or going, such is the unpredictable nature of President Donald Trump’s tariff crusade. However, this could present an opportunity for the UK and other nations, according to Allied London chairman Mike Ingall and Urban Splash founder Tom Bloxham. With the US becoming an increasingly volatile landing spot for capital, those investors are likely to look overseas for somewhere to invest their cash. Mark Allan, chief executive of Landsec, also subscribes to this theory. “I do think now the UK, in an international context, is one of the more politically stable environments. That is a low bar.”

Secretary of state Angela Rayner and housing minister Matthew Pennycook did not attend the convention. Credit: House of Commons, via CC BY-3.0, bit.ly/3g0ER6a

Missing ministers

There was a noticeable lack of ministerial presence at MIPIM this year. Organisers had hoped both the housing and investment ministers would make an appearance but neither did. Given the noises coming out of Whitehall about a pro-growth agenda underpinned by a focus on housing delivery, this came as a surprise to some. However, the absence of Matthew Pennycook and other ministers might have simply been a result of bad planning. One can hardly expect the housing minister to be in the South of France when a new planning and infrastructure bill is being put before Parliament, right? Or perhaps it had more to do with news that broke during the week about plans for a significant job cutting drive within the civil service, dubbed “Project Chainsaw”. What minister would want to field questions about that if they didn’t have to?

Mukaab is one of several outlandish schemes proposed in Saudi Arabia. Credit: PNW

Saudi Arabia

For the second year running, Saudi Arabia’s stand presence was the talk of MIPIM. Two tents boasted a mind-boggling array of models aimed at bringing to life the nation’s outlandish ambitions to transform huge swathes of deserts in the name of growth. Among them were the vision for a sports boulevard – a 135km long trench given over to spaces for spaces designed to encourage exercise, and Mukaab, a 400-metre-tall cube in the al-Qirawan district of Riyadh that provides 22m sq ft of mixed-use space.

Long-term trust

Unsurprisingly, the relationship between the public and private sectors has once again been a key topic of conversation on every panel discussion, interview, and general chat that has been had throughout the show – however, the emphasis on ‘long-term’ and ‘trust’ has been particularly dominant this year.

Ambitious government housing targets and regeneration plans underline this, but there’s a buoyant, optimistic mood that things actually will get built if everyone sticks to the plan. Citu’s Jonathan Wilson highlighted this when discussing his relationship with Sheffield and the South Yorkshire Combined Authority: “We’ve got shared ambition, and they’ve put their trust in us,” he said.

Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation, also emphasised this when discussing the
role of devolution in allowing local governments to make long-term decisions, posing the question: “Can central government learn to trust?”

Jonathan Wilson, third from left, said trust between the private and public sectors is crucial. Credit: PNW

Micro vs macro

The scale of development needed across the North was palpable, with many conversations focused around the sheer amount of work that needs to be done. Peel Land’s Stephen Wild highlighted: “All these schemes require infrastructure. We need a delivery solution for that to build at scale. We need more skills, we need more people, more process – it needs to be clearer, because the private sector needs the confidence to invest.”

Alongside this, however, was the recognition that it is often small changes that can really benefit and shape a community. Describing Manchester when he arrived there as being made up of “literally dark, satanic mills,” Urban Splash’s chairman and founder Tom Bloxham highlighted how the opening of the Hacienda nightclub and Afflecks indoor market brought culture and entrepreneurial spirit to the city, which he believes was transformative. He also noted how the installation of Cotton Field Park in New Islington, the first new park in Manchester for 100 years, revitalised one of the most run-down areas of Manchester and was fundamental in making it one of the most desirable places to live in the city.

Sport meets regeneration

Both the Old Trafford announcement and the completion of Everton’s 53,000-capacity Bramley-Moore Dock ground demonstrate the intertwining of sports and regeneration, another key theme of this MIPIM.

Delegates heard repeatedly that building a big old ground is not just a way to revive the fortunes of football clubs, but also a way to uplift underused and disregarded neighbourhoods.

Football is a key North West asset, and sport is a powerful tool for social mobility, according to Seb Coe, chair of the Old Trafford Regeneration Taskforce. The impact of these projects could be seismic, so long as the surrounding areas are factored in early on.

• Read all of Place North’s news from MIPIM 2025