NEWS.DAY 3.05 MIPIM looking sweet, says Candy


“There’s 100% more liquidity here this year,” says Candy & Candy’s Nick Candy. Speaking to EG from his plush hotel suite overlooking


the Croisette, Candy said that the mood at MIPIM this year had definitely improved. That mood is being led by the return of the banks, which


were back in Cannes and willing to talk to borrowers for the first time in several years. Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and


Barclays were all in town and open for business. Lloyds, in particular, has opened its lending doors with the promise of releasing £6bn to market. “They are all doing business and are here to lend,” said


Candy, “but only to the right people. The banks cannot just concentrate on their bad loan books; they need to make money, which means they need to lend.” And there is plenty activity in the market requiring that


new debt. Candy said that the fluctuations in exchange rates in


recent weeks had made investing in the UK 10% cheaper for international investors, which could only be good for London and the UK as a whole. Much of that interest is now coming from residential


players, which were a notably increased group at MIPIM this year.


Towering ambitions


Video-game-style applications to market developments and Lego buildings to challenge people’s conceptions of tower development were. just two of the innovations on show at MIPIM’s Innovation Forum. The forum, a new addition to the conference, has


been designed as a shadow programme to the main event in a bid to provide a fresh view on how to do business in the built environment. The main exhibit, a series of nine Lego


towers aiming to challenge the preconceptions of skyscraper development, was designed by architect Winy Maas. He said: “The majority of towers you see at MIPIM


are boring… the forum plays a key role in providing a different point of view.” Other exhibitors claimed that the use of 3D


building tours that were “as easy to use as a computer game” could make it up to four times quicker to sell space.


TO LISTEN TO FULL DEBATE CLICK HERE


Avoiding barrier grief


London needs to maintain an attractive financial climate if it wants to continue to entice international investment, a panel of property experts agreed during an EG debate at MIPIM yesterday. Gary Yardley (far right), investment director at


Capital & Counties, said: “We’ve got to understand why investors come to London and not put barriers in their way to ensure we stay at the forefront of their minds.” The panel also included Mark Ridley, Savills UK


chairman and chief executive; Howard Dawber, Canary Wharf Group strategic adviser; Residential Land chief executive Bruce Ritchie; and Berkeley Group’s Tony Pidgley.


TO LISTEN TO INTERVIEW CLICK HERE


Crossrail tracking partners


Crossrail was at MIPIM this week to step up its search for partners and investors for its 3m sq ft development pipeline. Ian Lindsay, Crossrail’s director of land


and property, said it was nearing the end of the design phase at 12 sites in London and expects most of the planning consents to be


in place by the end of this year. “Our focus and reason for being at MIPIM is to excite


more interest from developers and investors and bring partners on board over the next 12 to 18 months,” said Lindsay. The £14.8bn project is one of the UK’s largest


infrastructure schemes and is due to be completed by 2018.


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