ENTREPRENEUR John McGlynn has backed the decision by Glasgow City Council to once again take a delegation to MIPIM, the world’s biggest property and real estate market in a bid to attract investment in the city.
The event takes place in Cannes, in the south of France, over four days in March.
Previous visits to the event on behalf of the city have generated well over £100 million of investment in the city, including student accommodation, with a number of new projects in the pipeline as a result of attending MIPIM.
But the council has also come in for criticism for attending the event, with council leader Frank McAveety in December defending the £17,000 that is believed to have been spent on last year’s trip.
A team of ten will attend this year’s exhibition. This includes eight council officers plus Stuart Patrick, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and an officer from Glasgow City Marketing Bureau.
Glasgow City Council said that investment, particularly in hotel, residential and office developments, has brought more than 1,000 jobs to the city directly from representation at MIPIM over the past five years alone.
And now, the attendance has won of the backing of serial entrepreneur John McGlynn, who made his fortune in the car park business before founding investment group Scottish Capital.
Mr McGlynn, said: “MIPIM is firmly a must-attend event for any city with serious growth ambitions. The investment that Manchester has achieved in recent years is staggering, and I’m sure Glasgow can do even better with the track record of success to date.
“Ironically, we have only just submitted planning for a £3.5m regeneration project at Polmadie, and that was as a direct result of a conversation with the council team at MIPIM 2016. Results do flow from this event but they are not always overnight,” said Mr McGlynn, whose Storage Vault Work Space firm has backed The Herald Entrepreneur series.
More than 500 local authorities attend MIPIM, including many of Glasgow’s competitor cities, and the council argues that not attending would stifle investment in the city. In total, the show sees 23,000 participants arrive from more than 90 countries, including 5,300 investors.
Annemarie O’Donnell, chief executive of Glasgow City Council, said: “Glasgow has one of the most highly-qualified workforces in the UK and a business-friendly environment – but we are competing with cities across the UK, Europe and beyond to attract investment.”
She said that MIPIM was Glasgow’s single best opportunity to showcase the city’s strengths. “[We can] reach developers and investors from all over the world and kick-start conversations and negotiations that will mean new projects and new jobs for Glasgow.”
Mr Patrick added that in the wake of the Brexit vote, attendance was even more important. “Glasgow has a growing list of opportunities for overseas property investors, with an imminent shortage of Grade A office space being at the top of that list,” he said. “It’s impossible to overstate the importance of being well represented at what is Europe’s most important property market event of the year.”
Select Property Group’s 2.9 acre Vita Glasgow student accommodation development is one example of investment in the city directly as a result of MIPIM.
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