UKREiiF | Themes from Leeds in 2025

There was a palpable sense of nervousness among the delegation’s public sector contingent about the rise of a certain political party, while the private sector vented its frustration about the Building Safety Act, hoping for a confidence-boosting spending review.

A packed-out Royal Armouries saw property professionals of all stripes lap greedily at the font of panel discussions and network themselves into a frenzy this week. But what were the main talking points of UKREiiF 2025?

The rise of Reform

Reform was everywhere and nowhere. At panel discussions, the word was barely uttered as people couched questions in abstract terms, perhaps asking whether there was concern around, for example, ‘changes in political direction’.

The classic response of a tight smile followed by a pledge to continue to build great things became standard. Matthew Pennycook himself seemed to attempt to take ownership of the word, announcing to the audience that, when it comes to housing at least, the Labour government “has such an ambitious reform agenda”.

There was an uneasiness from some in the public sector about the impact Reform’s rise could have on priorities going forward. It is considered that the views of Nigel Farage’s party do not necessarily align with those currently trying to get stuff done, and that some of the more progressive plans in marginal areas could be watered down to prevent Reform moving in at upcoming elections.

The likes of Liverpool and Manchester, which have been Labour strongholds for years, will be immune… won’t they?

Housing and Reform may become a problem – would a party that actively believes there are too many people in the country be willing to provide so many new homes? And is that a question anyone is willing to answer?

On a lighter note, the novelty of a former boxer becoming the first Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire gave people something to talk about, with Luke Campbell visiting the show on day one.

Angela Rayner gave little away about what might come out of the spending review. Credit: via South Facing

Patiently waiting for the spending review

UKREiiF felt a little like purgatory for those whose future plans depend on the outcome of the upcoming spending review. Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, who addressed delegates on the Tuesday, promised more affordable homes funding but that was the extent of the insight into what might actually come out of the SR from those in the know.

If those in attendance want anything it is flexibility. The theme of smashing silos and letting the money flow to where it is most needed cropped up repeatedly. You have to feel for the civil servants prepping for the spending review, every council in the land has submitted representations and requests that need filtering, filing, or shredding. As well as more funding for housing and brownfield land remediation, the North will be hoping for positive noises on infrastructure, including the Northern Arc, a rail line connecting Manchester and Liverpool via Warrington.

Risky business

The topic of risk underpinned a lot of conversations at UKREiiF. How to share it, how to mitigate it, and the appetite of various parties for it. The general consensus is that there is no shortage of institutional capital to be deployed to deliver regeneration, but a distinct lack of de-risked sites in the market. Homes England chief executive Eamonn Boylan said the agency was continually evaluating its appetite for risk, while many funders are viewing high-risk buildings too risky to forward fund due to concerns about the sluggishness of the building safety regulator. Councils seem willing to take risk to get their projects of the ground but are limited as to how far they can push the envelope.

Has UKREiiF outgrown Leeds?

That was a question that cropped up on more than one occasion this week as delegates squeezed into tents and queued for an eternity to pick up their passes. Generally, people seem to love the venue and the fact the event has made a home for itself in Leeds, but its increasing popularity is putting a strain on infrastructure. It was the busiest year yet for the event and if serendipitous meetings are what you like, there truly is no better place. However, there were serious concerns among some attendees about the capacity of the Royal Armouries and Leeds itself to accommodate an event of such scale.

Hotels were either fully booked or prohibitively expensive, resulting in more people travelling to and from the city two or three times in a week. But while this situation resulted in early mornings for many, the general busyness of UKREiiF was good news for the local economies of some other Yorkshire locations such as Huddersfield and York, whose hotels provided refuge for those who were too late or too skint to find a place in Leeds.

The queues on the Tuesday morning took many attendees by surprise. Credit: PNW

Capacity

The need to properly resource the planning system has been a theme of the last decade let alone this year’s UKREiiF. The issue of capacity more generally was one that seemed to be troubling both the public and private sectors in Leeds this week. Councils are sick of having their best staff poached by the private sector and then being blamed for acting slowly. Meanwhile, private sector developers are in some cases visibly furious about the lack of resources that have been bestowed upon the Building Safety Regulator, leaving their sites in limbo.

Construction’s skills crisis is also not getting any better, you will be shocked to hear, and as a result the push towards off-site manufacturing and away from traditional modes of building is gathering pace.

Transport-led regeneration

Yorkshire is on the move… or, at least it’s trying to be. Opening the West Yorkshire Combined Authority tent on Tuesday morning, Mayor Tracy Brabin declared, “we’ll be talking about tram, and tram, and tram! But also about our plan for bus, for rail, and for electric”. By day two, she had put her emphasis into sartorial action, sporting a tram t-shirt to the event. Cllr Paul Drake-Davis of Hull fame also pointed to it as a wish for East Yorkshire, noting that rail electrification to Hull would be “amazing” and reiterating his desire to “follow the ambitions of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and develop a mass transit plan for Hull and the East Riding region”.

In a discussion over at the South Yorkshire tent, the new mainline station for Rotherham was touted as key to harnessing investment in the town, while you can’t claim to have been to Bradford if you haven’t heard about its plans for the ‘through’ rail station in the Southern Gateway, cited as “critical” to delivering social and economic benefits. The message was loud and clear: Yorkshire wants to be better connected between itself and to major economic hubs such as London and Manchester, and it sees this ambition as crucial to encouraging more investment and, thus, creating more jobs, a better economy, and a brighter future. But, as every commuter knows, when it comes to trains in the North, things rarely run on time…

The Northern mayors were out in force. Credit: via South Facing

Skills to pay the bills

It’s not a new idea, but it did seem to have a particular emphasis this year. When Kim McGuinness launched the North East’s £14bn pipeline of investment opportunities, skilled jobs were mentioned at every turn. A panel at the South Yorkshire tent underlined the need for development created to benefit the local community with skilled jobs.

Tom Gilman from McLaren is clear that the innovation hub and CBD being developed at York Central is there to retain talent and stop the brain drain away to places like London. Creating skilled jobs is one thing, but the North now appears to be focusing on providing them for its own future generations, rather than for people relocating to the region, as part of an overall growth strategy.

The North, of course

Not for the first time, the nation’s Northern mayors stole the spotlight. They began UKREiiF on the front foot with the launch of Great North, an initiative designed to unlock the economic potential of its cities. Liverpool City Region’s Steve Rotheram, West Yorkshire’s Tracy Brabin, Manchester’s Andy Burnham, North East’s Kim McGuinness, and South Yorkshire’s Oliver Coppard were ubiquitous throughout the week, showing just how powerful our mayors have become in shaping the Northern narrative. Even Tees Valley’s Conservative mayor Ben Houchen lined up alongside his counterparts, something that seldom happened when his party was still in power.