By Nathan Spencer, Director, UKREiiF

It’s difficult to have a pulse on everything taking place nationally, but I take great pleasure in speaking to local authorities up and down the UK to understand their challenges and the unique opportunities that are present across their regions.

For the next few weeks, we’re going to highlight a few of these across our channels, and they will of course all be at UKREiiF as they look to connect with investors, developers, and potential new occupiers.

My summers are usually spent in Cornwall, known for its amazing beaches and traditional pasties. Some might not be aware of how they’re at the forefront of some of the UK’s future industrial strategy and emerging sectors. The first lithium mine is being brought forward in Cornwall, which is set to play a vital role in the green industrial revolution, while Newquay Airport has turned into a thriving hub for the ever-growing space sector, with the site also set to house a £150 million deep-sea and space research, training, and test facility, creating the world’s biggest and deepest pool that will descend 164 feet. This is all in addition to new garden communities being developed, a new stadium on the edge of Truro coupled with a major regeneration scheme in the city, and more.

UKREiiF enables opportunities across all sectors of real estate to be showcased, and by regions of all sizes. And that’s why we’re keen to keep highlighting some of those over the next few weeks.

Some other really exciting projects I’m keeping a keen eye on include Cheltenham’s Golden Valley, a £1 billion cyber project to place the community at the heart of the UK’s National Cyber Strategy, the Gravity scheme in North Somerset, which is set to house the £4bn JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) gigafactory, the role of many such as the Thames Estuary in creating a green hydrogen economy, the buoyant health and science-focused economic activity in the North East, and much more.

UKREiiF enables you to uncover a better understanding of where new hotbeds of activity are set to take place. Last week I was on a call learning about the electrifying opportunities in South East Lincolnshire, focused on areas such as agritech and vertical farming, alongside a cyber district and data centres. Without UKREiiF, local authorities wouldn’t have the opportunity to share these with some of the leading investors and developers across the UK and globally. and our focus on facilitation to ensure the right people are connected is, of course, one of the key reasons for the success.

Torbay is one recent success we’ve had with this, where we connected Torbay with investment and development partners who we knew had ideas for a real community and socially aware mixed-use development opportunity.

Keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks to uncover some insight into regions you perhaps didn’t know…

By Nathan Spencer, Director, UKREiiF