MIPIM 2011: Friday Update

Andrew Pryke on the final day of MIPIM 2011

Friday

Up at 6.30am. A quick breakfast, pack and a walk to the bus for Nice Airport. Streets are deserted. The bus is already waiting. I can see Rob Firth, our previous Head of Architecture in the distance. I'll try and catch up with him later. The bus fills up with MIPIM delegates. Heads are down, no one seems to want a conversation. Business appears to be over. The week has caught up with everyone!

I count the business cards I have collected this week (the exchange of cards is obligatory with everyone you meet here)...52. Not bad. A number of good leads and follow ups. I know my colleague, Norman Taylor will have more. He is Mr. MIPIM after all.

Check in at Nice Airport has it's moments. My bag has suddenly gained 4.5 kilos since departing Luton on Monday yet now has less in it (business collateral now gone). I pay the 25 euros. It's not worth arguing about and I don't feel like putting on five more shirts and three pairs of trousers (extra shoes are obviously out of the question). Security is no problem except when they insist on searching my bag (anyway do I look like a terrorist? A question that shouldn't be answered me thinks).
Ex-delegates are strewn across the departures lounge. David Young (Hurley Palmer Flatt) seems deep in thought..or asleep. Our own Cullan Riley, with red streak in his hair, wanders around looking for that last possible deal making opportunity. Our Head of Services, Neil Cartwright, hobbles in, the strain of walking up and down the Croisette has taken it's toll...or he has fallen over...best not ask! Mike Burton, Faber Maunsell - Aecom joins me. He's had a very good MIPIM. There are no stragglers or hangers on this year. Everyone is here to for a good reason. Jim (the shoes) Totton, our own structural engineer turns up....he hasn't been to bed and says he has gained some amazing info and leads....and he got married again last night!

A coffee and croissant and I decide to call my MIPIM Blog a day. There is only so much you can do on a Blackberry....and anyway, I would like the new I-Pad......Capita Symonds.....Pretty please?

Until next year....What will we be doing and where will the industry be then?

Click here to read an interactive magazine about MIPIM 2011 from Estates Gazette.

MIPIM 2011 Update: Thursday

Thursday

Andrew Pryke's pen-ultimate day at MIPIM 2011.
Another early start. However, the sun is shining and it's warm (a change from the recent cold and windy weather).

Breakfast on the beach hosted by Fira and Sidell Gibson. A glut of consultants have homed in on the coffee, orange juice and croissants. I catch up with Peter Stocks from Cundall....work in Libya has dried up. An old colleague from a contractor has an opportunity for me...I am dragged away before I can follow up.

Back to the London Pavilion. I bump into our exec board member Mark Norris and Damian Wild of Estates Gazette. He feels pleased he has just competed a live video link Q+A from London on the Ealing stand...it worked.
I take a wander around the Marina. A mulltitude of multi-million pound (Euro) yachts are moored. Each eblazened with corporate logos. Drinks bars ready for the next party. Arup seem to be missing from their usual position. I haven't seen anyone from Arup here this year.
I pass an American corporate yacht. A speaker bellows out "To us our handshake is our promise"...I move on swiftly!
I have a spare 30 minutes...I take a bet on how much corporate stand bling I can collect (yes, there is sometimes time for fun outside work here!). I return having done a world tour of cities and world companies....I can just about carry it all...rather juvenile I know.
I meet up with David Matthews from Building Magazine at the Capita Symonds stand. We go for a chat on the London Pavilion Terrace overlooking the beach. The weather now is very hot, the wind has died down and the week is taking it's toll. David is looking for a good story about Capita Symonds. The focus strays to major architectural practices that are in trouble (I wonder if he is going to going to print on this?). The next focus is companies left to be acquired by major companies. Again I am not drawn on this, but suggest he talks to our M.D. Jonathan Goring who arrived in Cannes today. I think that I have got away with not giving too much about Capita for now. I agree to meet up again in London. David is a great guy. It's a very pleasant and informative conversation and we part. I am beginning to think I am a bit of a media 'tart' having managed to talk to most magazines this MIPIM.

Back at the Capita Symonds stand the London Pavilion is quiet. A Russian gentleman asks me if I am from Capita Symonds. He states that he is a developer and would like me/ Capita Symonds to design a number of projects for him. It is suggested that a meeting with another developer we’re working with is arranged. It would appear that we have that illusive project(s) win that the guys back in the UK believe you should be getting at MIPIM!

It's a rush back to the hotel for another quick shower and change and out for an dinner invite with Wates. I have noticed this MIPIM a number of 'beggers' on the streets. I know that times are hard but I don't believe they are members of our industry. One chap sits beside a notice "Need petrol for my Porsche"...they get a better class of 'begger' in the South of France!
I meet my hosts, Christine Baltas and Doug Wotherspoon at Le Caveau. A very pleasant restaurant overlooking the Boule pitches (is that the term for them) and the Marina. It seems that the whole MIPIM Dutch contingent have booked the restaurant as well. They start to sing. This could be a very noisy evening. They calm down and I have yet another pleasant and informative evening with Wates and their guests. Discussions dwell on Libya and the Middle East...is this a lost opportunity or a new market opening? At midnight we all depart and head for Morrisons Bar. I duck out and head back to my hotel.
I have an early departure from Nice Airport in the morning…