EXPO Real: ‘United front’ by UK cities as sentiment improves
Newcastle was part of a strong showing of UK cities at the EXPO Real real estate fair in Munich in early October 2024. Invest Newcastle director Jenny Hartley spoke to Real FDI afterwards about increased investor interest in UK assets and what that means for cities like Newcastle.
How did you find EXPO Real this year? What stood out to you?
This was a brilliant edition of EXPO Real, with the conference providing a truly global platform for us to promote our strengths and opportunities here in Newcastle as well as collaborate with our colleagues in other UK cities to put out a united front. As a city, visibility is really important to us and over the years we have cultivated a vast network of investment contacts that we work with to unlock development.
The thing that stood out this year was the improved investor sentiment towards UK assets. After a period marked by high inflation, high interest rates and political turmoil, the UK now stands out in Europe as being among the most stable markets and the place where longer term, strategic investments can be made. This is important for cities like Newcastle where we need capital that is patient and that can be put to work across the whole business cycle.
What was Newcastle’s message?
Our message in Newcastle is all about being a friendly, supportive partner that is easy to deal with and that will move heaven and earth to make the process of investing in urban regeneration and development more straightforward. We hear all the time from investors that their main barrier to entering in the UK market is the lack of clarity around systems and process for things like planning and development frameworks. We want to simplify the process by acting as a single front door for investment into the city, convening stakeholders in the background so that investors know who they are dealing with and what they need to do.
What key investment opportunities were you promoting?
Newcastle is on the cusp of significant transformation with a string of urban regeneration projects gathering momentum. To the west of the city, we have Forth Yards, Newcastle’s last major undeveloped brownfield site with the potential for 2,500 homes as well as leisure and hospitality uses and a New York style highline linear park. To the east, we have City Gateway East being led by Northumbria University, anchored by new multi-million-pound research facilities, including the North East Space Skills and Technology Centre (NESST), and to the North, Newcastle University is leading the development of Health Innovation Neighbourhood, a £500m scheme that will pilot new ways of living to promote healthy ageing.
