Introduction | What is the UKPF? | Contributors | Past Performance | Supporters
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What is the UK Property Forum?
“The property world doesn’t need yet another single focus membership organisation, rather the time is ripe for a Forum, which is UK based and provides a focal point for all those involved in the built environment and real estate sector at a national, and a local level, to lead opinion, shape debate and create new and original thought and initiatives in the rapidly emerging mixed use market place. The UK Property Forum will reflect in all it events the increasing complexity of the property equation – call it convergence, call it mixed use: we call it the mixed up debate.’
The UK Property Forum has gained momentum in 2006 and will now consolidate in 2007 by engaging with property professionals to create an exciting programme of conferences across the UK. We invite real estate practitioners to join us in a series of forums and conferences in London, Thames Valley, West & Wales and Liverpool & Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh, to explore the issues that shape our businesses and our built environment.
Membership of the UK Property Forum is open to property and real estate professionals who want to be part of the debate, who want to challenge the boundaries of what our sector has traditionally achieved and who want to create new marketing platforms for their business.
The walking tour, dinner and conference in Liverpool on June 7th and 8th again confirmed what we have found in developing the Thames Valley (www.tvpf.co.uk) and the London Property Forum (www.londonpropertyforum.com) over the past two years: there is a thirst amongst practitioners around the country for a meeting point that focuses on property related issues on their patch, in their backyard which is too often ignored by the long established London-centric organisations.
The business model identifies key issues driving the region and city in question but enriches the debate with input from London and Europe.
Liverpool again confirmed the successful formula for a conference that meets this need:
- Strong level of local participation and local interest,
- Involvement of Principals from the public and the private sector,
- Airing of local issues in the “mixed up debate”,
- Moving the agenda ‘one step removed from property’,
- Enabling Key Note addresses to illustrate the bigger picture,
- Mix of sectors: occupational, development and supplier issues,
In February of 2006, we held a breakfast at The Ivy Restaurant in London and introduced the concept of the UK Property Forum (UKPF) to 60 friends, journalists and representatives of organisations who had worked with us in enabling the London and the Thames Valley Property Forum; we then took the marketing material to our stand at MIPIM in March.
But we now need to anchor this initiative in a framework which will enable more people to become involved, move us forward as we roll out around the UK.
What are the objectives of the Editorial Board?
- To raise the profile so that it attracts key players in their market place who want to contribute to the ‘Mixed-Up’ debate’.
- To improve levels of communication and understanding between the public and private property sector
- To identify issues that ‘are coming down the pipe’ and debate and air them in advance of their impact on the local community.
- To raise the profile and attract inward investment into the region.
- Hold one major conference and additional events as in the region and which compliment other UKPF activities.
- Introduce potential sponsors/partners or its events to BA to ensure that all events are profitable.
- Identify UKPF members in the catchments area.
Why the concept is different from established trade or professional organisations and bodies and where is the USP?
- Introducing the ‘Mixed-Up’ debate concept brings together a new and previously unrecognised constituency to debate and understand property and real estate issues.
- Traditionally property issues have found a home on a vested interest basis, thus CoreNet; RIBA; RICS; BCSC and BCO etc so limiting their area of interest to ‘their’ chosen audience.
- For participants, and particularly the Editorial Board, membership provides a ‘calling card’ to open doors that might otherwise remain closed or hard to open.
- It also enables issues that members feel passionate about to see the light of day and enable them to ‘cross boundaries’.
- Once momentum is gained, a ‘tipping point achieved’, opportunities will present themselves as different strands of the mixed-up debate in the cities and region see the Forum as a natural platform to promote their particular brand, product or proposal and attract inward investment.
- The Forum in raising the profile, reinforcing a brand of a city and a region cuts across vested interests as the object is to benefit the community at large.
Where does the UK Property Forum fit into this?
- Members will be kept updated on activities in the other Forum.
- There will be an Editorial Board meeting which will follow on from the Annual Ivy Restaurant breakfast held in January 2007.
- This meeting will review the programme for the year ahead.
- BA is responsible for all aspects of the branding, event management and administration of the UKPF.programme working through the UKPF Editorial Board.
Media Partners
From experience we know the importance of raising the profile of a Property Forum event: whilst the brand is becoming recognisable it is clearly not as readily identifiable as a long established media player with deep roots and with a long standing constituency, readership who rely on their media source for market place knowledge and information.
Therefore over time we will establish with a trade media partner a role within the UKPF framework that will enable both Battle Associates and the media partner to play to their individual strengths.
On the longer term this will undoubtedly reinforce the brand and recall of the UKPF in our chosen market place and enable us to achieve more quickly our goal of giving the UKPF ‘a voice in the community’ as together we explore the exciting agenda of ‘one stage removed from property’.