Ep 85: Making the most out of your time at UKREiiF, part I, with Nathan Spencer, Jeremy Brim and Ayo Abbas
Welcome back to The Built Environment Marketing Show.
This special two-part episode of the Built Environment Marketing Show focuses on UKREliF (UK Real Estate Investment Forum), the property and real estate show taking place in Leeds from May 20-22, 2025. I'm Ayo Abbas and am joined by Jeremy Brim from Growth Ignition and special guest Nathan Spencer, Managing Director of UKREiiF, to talk about how you can make the most of their time at the event.
In this episode, we have a look at:
Strategic planning tips to navigate an event with 13,000+ delegates
Tips on networking and how to build fruitful business relationships
New features and formats for 2025 at the show
Some of the must-see sessions
DOWNLOAD MY UKREiiF PREP CHECKLIST
Resources and links
About the show
The Built Environment Marketing Show is hosted by marketing consultant and content creator Ayo Abbas from Abbas Marketing. It is a show that is unashamedly about marketing for architects and engineers, as well as bringing forward voices that we don't always get to hear.
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Transcript
Ayo Abbas 00:05
Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Built Environment Marketing Show. I am your host. Ayo Abbas a marketing consultant, speaker and trainer, and I work exclusively with architects, engineers and contractors. So today's episode is a special one. It's a two parter, and it's all about UKREiiF. Unless you've been living under a rock, you can't have heard of the show, which is a property and real estate show that is taking place in Leeds from the 20th of May to the 22nd of May. I think, anyway, I'm going to be up there for two days. So if you are around and want to meet do drop me an email at Ayo@Abbasmarketing.com
Ayo Abbas 00:44
Anyway, back to the episode today. So today's episode is about how you can make the most out of your time at UKREiiF. So I've got the MD, Nathan Spencer coming on to share what he thinks you can be doing and what's happening this year and what's new, so you can really get prepared. And I'm also joined co hosting with Jeremy Brim, who is from a big consultancy firm called Growth Ignition. So I hope you enjoy this episode. If you are going to UKREiiF, do reach out and say hi, and I hope you enjoy it.
Ayo Abbas 01:23
I'm Ayo Abbas. I am a marketing consultant. I run my own agency called I forgot that, which Abbas Marketing, and I do marketing for built environment firms. And I've also got a podcast called the Built Environment Marketing Show. So yeah, I talk a lot about marketing, and I'm joined today by Jeremy, do you want to introduce yourself? Jeremy,
Jeremy Brim 01:42
yes. Thank you Ayo, and thank you for arranging this again. So I'm Jeremy Brim. I lead Growth Ignition. We help with the transformation of B2B, B2G firms in how they grow so, market research, business planning can capture bidding, all of that kind of stuff. And I have a podcast called The Red Review that's all about winning work. So it's great to be here today. Thank you, and thank you for tuning in.
Ayo Abbas 02:07
Yeah, and if you're watching us live, which I hope some of you are, if you can put in the comments, maybe, I guess, if you're going to UKREiiF, what you're looking to get out of it. And we'll have a look in the comments and see what, see what's going on there. And today we are joined by somebody who's propped up by coffee, as he said this morning, Nathan Spencer, who is the MD of UKREiiF, and he's got his coffee coffee cup there. Thank you for joining us.
Nathan Spencer 02:33
Thank you very much. Yes, it's definitely coffee. It's nothing harder, I promise.
Ayo Abbas 02:40
So Nathan, how are things?
Nathan Spencer 02:43
Yes, we're just getting ready to start building, which is really weird to say, sort of four weeks out. But yeah, our operations team is in kind of full mode. The content program team are sort of finalising all the program etc. So hectic, but really good. Yeah,
Ayo Abbas 02:58
cool. So, Jeremy, do you want to intro the session.
Jeremy Brim 03:01
Yeah. So Ayo and I are friends. We work together on some stuff, and we were talking a couple of months ago about how we work with a number of clients, and how some clients are really good at preparing for conferences, and particularly UKREiiF has become the marquee event in the construction infrastructure investment world. It's really quite important that we get the best out of it. And because we've got some clients last year, Ayo and I had a coffee last year, and it was quite apparent some people were just we were just talking with Nathan earlier about, before we came on, about how people just sort of wander around, bumping into people and stuff. And it's really quite important that people get the most out of this event, because it only happens once a year. We've got two or three days, depending on how long you're staying, and want to be involved. And so obviously, Nathan and the gang are really geared towards return on investment, because they want people to come around every year, and we want our clients and our friends to get the best out of it too. So this session came about because we just wanted to help people prep, you know, Ayo and I were talking the other day that actually we're probably almost a year late. And Nathan, we were going to say we should do a wash up session, actually, after UKREiiF, almost, kind of, you know, you're a year away from next year. What should you be doing now? As well as, what have we learned? Because some of this, you do need some quite, Leeds gets very busy as a city, and we'll come to that. But certainly, you know, we're about a month away now, aren't we all very excited beginning to build the stuff. What should you do now? Is kind of the agenda today, to make sure we get the most out of this time together with our community, because it's, really precious, actually, in this day and age, and it's a fantastic event, but we've got to get the best out of it. So the purpose of today,
Ayo Abbas 04:48
I guess. Let's start off with, where are we currently? Nathan, what's the numbers? How are you doing? How's it all going?
Nathan Spencer 04:58
Yeah, just over 13,000 so pretty much where we were. Last year, four weeks ago, that's how we naturally see the flow go. So yeah, on target for around 16,000 delegates. The positive thing from our end is the delegate split. This is in our KPIs as business, in terms of all of the team, we have a big focus on it, making sure that 40% of the people attending are what we class as clients, certainly to be public sector, government, investors, developers, occupiers. So we're driven by ensuring 1000 are clients. The 60% will then be wider architect firms, you know, your lawyers, your marketing experts and so forth, the ones who make up and help bring the projects to fruition. So, yeah, looking really strong. There's more pavilions this year. We've grown. We've got pavilions floating on the water this year, which is pretty cool. And likewise,
Ayo Abbas 05:54
Like Jesus?, like, you know, you make stuff. Is that not you?
Nathan Spencer 05:59
Exactly, no, yeah, we've got, we've got four or five people who just stand there and sort of keep it whole. Every couple of hours, we'll switch rounds and someone else can hold it up. Yeah, no, that, that was a, we saw some in Liverpool actually floating on the water for something else, kind of some activation. And we thought, yeah, you know, that'd be great to have operation statements are incredible to actually pull it, pull it off, because it is quite a difficult task to do. But actually, it's pretty it's, it holds, you know, 1000 people on it. So yeah, we've grown quite a lot in that aspect. And we've, we've listened to feedback as well, you know, we've, we've got a lot more meeting spaces this year. We're going to do a video of that in the next coming days of where those are on site, there's a lot more improvement in way finding, WiFi, water stations, mobile phone charging stations, the whole lot we've invested a lot more this year into the customer experience. They'll get experience on site, which I'm sure is going to be welcomed by all.
Jeremy Brim 06:59
You've had some additional investment or change of ownership in last year since last time, and so it sounds like that spurred you on in terms of how you can grow. How's that kind of helped you? And what's the journey been like this year?
Nathan Spencer 07:12
Yeah, I think so. Yeah. We went through an acquisition period in June, July, with a company called Infopro, who are a global organisation for 5000 staff. In actual fact, there's been not much change internally. I think internally, we've had a bit of a change within the senior management structure of how it runs. And it just means that, I think our vision of of where it's going, I suppose, effectively, it's my vision of where it's going is a little bit more focused on customer experience, so therefore, we've invested more into it. The organisation who's acquired us is actually quite hands off. It's our business. We run it. We decide the strategic direction of what we do at UKREiiF, but also the growth of the business. So yeah, they do have expertise in running events. They actually run one that's quite similar to UKREiiF in France, called Simi, but they're quite clear that the UK operation runs pretty much on its own. So yeah, it's some nice synergies, though, with kind of shared practice. Historically, it's been quite a good lead generation tool for supply chain, but it's moving very much into sort of data insights and guiding the industry and highlighting sort of trends and whatnot ahead of time. So yeah, some good synergies, but pretty much it's, it's UKREiiF running UKREiiF at the moment, which is, which is what we wanted.
Ayo Abbas 08:35
So what other new, kind of new things are kind of coming into the show this year? So I know there's, like, new formats as well, isn't there? And there's more. It's not, it's not, I'm gonna say not just panels, but you know what I mean? So there's lots of different types of things you can be doing,
Nathan Spencer 08:48
Yeah, so naturally, we've had a lot more pavilions, and therefore there's going to be a lot more focus on, you know, within those pavilions, yes, you have panels, but you also have networking and workshops and whatever else. There's a there's a load happening, but the key thing was trying to diversify the content. We don't want panel, panel, panel. Yeah, so trying to get our partners to be a bit more creative in some of the content that they're that they're taking that's taking place on site. I think the only bit to highlight from our end, it comes down into that kind of client side of things, and this will come into the BD element as well that we're talking about. We know that councils, government, developers and investors want to connect with each other, so one of the things that we do is facilitation sessions. We do them by speed dating style events in a private room. And we also do private brunches, lunches, breakfasts, where we put 10 councils in a room with investors, developers and occupiers who want to invest in developing those areas, they're the kind we know what they want to do, so therefore we put it on for them, because we're focused very heavily on that client side, making sure that works, because that's what brings investment and regeneration and makes it actually happen on the ground. And those types of things are what I would say others. Be looking at coming to UK everything. What do I really want to get out of it and run something that directly is aligned to that?
Jeremy Brim 10:07
Are those opportunities still open now we're a month away. I recognise you guys are really busy in build and the rest of it, but are those opportunities still open for people to engage with you at the center to create those opportunities, or is it a next year thing? Now do you think?
Nathan Spencer 10:21
Yeah, it's both. It's depends on how defined you know what you want to do so things like you want to run a round table focused on a certain sector, that's actually really easy for us to put together, because for so many people who want to be talking and being engaged, you know, those types of things are quite easy to do. If you want to do something that's really bespoke, then, yes, slightly more difficult, but yeah, I'd say if you're trying to rush it into the next two weeks or three weeks, then you probably need to review what you're doing in terms of your marketing strategy longer term. Yes, maybe do something this year, but use that as a learning curve for next year. Be a lot more planned out, because you could do something in two weeks. But you'd rather have six, eight, twelve, weeks to do it.
Ayo Abbas 11:04
Definitely you want the lead time. The lead time is how you make the most out of it, really, isn't it. So if you have got a ticket and you're coming in a couple of weeks time, what sort of things should you be looking at doing now? So you literally what four weeks out? What sort of tips would you give to people for that?
Nathan Spencer 11:19
Yeah, I suppose the key bit is really deciding why you're coming. I'm sure, I'm sure loads of people know why, but sometimes it's really fluffy. I'm there to meet new people, there to do this. I've been to so many events where I speak to people and they just don't really have a clear direction of why they're going. So from my side, why you're going as a starting point. Who do you want to meet? And then you need to curate your program around that. I I don't go to events usually for thought leadership. You know, I have a content and program team who are brilliant at putting what the event talking points are. And I would go for networking. So on the on the website, on the mobile app, there's an opportunity to filter it by networking. And I would be looking at, right? So I'm into networking events. What can I go to? I can have breakfast with muse, the developer. I can go and have lunch with, you know, London and meet all of the London boroughs who are in attendance. I can go to a, you know, those are the types of things that I would be looking to do. Who do I want to meet and and if there's speakers that you want to meet, I'd almost be looking at, do you need to sit there for the whole thing. And if you do actually a great opportunity to be asking questions, you need to be front row. You need to be asking questions. You need to be engaged. It's worth an hour of your time listening to a panel discussion if you're going for for that one question and engagement with a speaker. But likewise, you might be going because you want the thought leadership element. And therefore I'd be again, it's it's going on that website and the mobile app, and creating what your program looks like. Again, filter it by sectors, make sure that you really delve into it, and use the filterable options, because that will tell you exactly what's of interest to you, and leave space for plenty of kind of chance meetings bumping into others, because that's what events like UKREiiF are all
Jeremy Brim 13:03
about. I would, I would say Nathan, because I've been doing that for myself. Actually, I started that project looking at the data attendees list, looking at the app you released the other day. And there's so much. It's so vast, because there's so many people going and you know, I'm with you. I'm there for the networking, really, but I have to say, on day one for me, for my type of work, there are some fantastic talks actually, that I'm going to go to. I don't, I don't normally go to that many talks. I'm normally in it for the Gin and tonic, if I'm honest. But you know, there are actually some really good talks so, but it will take you ages to work through the agenda and figure out, even if you filter it, there's so much going on that it might take you a day to plan your conference, but it's imperative that you do because you won't be able to do it on the hoof when you're there, because it's too busy. There's too much going on. So for any, for anyone, I would say, who's attending, even if you've just bought yourself a ticket, and it's your first year, and you're sort of speculatively going to see what it was about like me last year, this year, you've got to have a plan, so it should map back, of course, to your business plan and key targets, key clients, sectors and sub sectors you need to understand and people you want to network with. So use that filtering to do that, but you need to be snipers, not infantry. You can't just wander around the field. You've got to be quite targeted with this. And it will take you half a day at least to figure out your game plan. So I would say block block out that half a day, or a day between now and definitely the week before, and get your game plan together, because you can start to reach out to people. The old WhatsApp stuff can kick off. But I would do that next week, to be honest.
Ayo Abbas 14:45
And you've just launched your new app this week, haven't you? Which I have downloaded. It's really good.
Nathan Spencer 14:50
Yes, this is the beauty of the new parent business. They actually own a because they have a big events business in France. Say, also own a mobile app and website, events based events management system. I cannot kind of describe how difficult I found other event management platforms to kind of get little kind of things done the customer service side. I'm sure it's not just because they're part of our company, but they're blooming brilliant, like, genuinely the speed of things we were like, Oh, we want this bespoke a day later done. Wow, yeah. So there's a lot of changes that are coming that we're going to build into it. One of the things which isn't on there yet is you'll have the opportunity to upload your photo and any photos that are taken across the event will pick your face up on AI and alert you if any photos are taken that you're in so that'll be really useful. Yeah, it will be. You don't have to. You don't have to. I probably won't you get it where sometimes people are kind of like they're clicking through all the Yeah, because we have 1000s of photos at the end of the event. But the idea is that it will alert people straight away to say, right, you know, you're speaking on a panel. You want a professional photo straight away, rather than one that's been taken in the back of a room, on on, on a on an Android or something. So lots of improvements that are coming down the line with it. But yeah, this year it's it's an app. Next year, it'll be even, even bigger and better on that side.
Ayo Abbas 16:32
Hi. It's Ayo here. And I just wanted to interrupt the show quickly to say a bit more about what I do. I'm a digitally led marketing consultant, and I specialise in working with built environment firms just like yours. I think there's so much more that AEC firms can do to make the most of the digital marketing opportunity. And if it's something that you would like to explore working with me how to make the best of online and in person world, then do get in touch. Email me at Ayo, which is Ayo@Abbasmarketing.com and let's have a chat.
Ayo Abbas 17:09
But it's how we all live now, isn't it? We all live on our mobile phone. So it makes a lot more sense to kind of have that, and to be walking around and like you say, I think especially before an event, it's like, you know, having, you know, on your mobile phone, who you're going to be chatting to, setting up those connections, having people's numbers. Because that's what's really handy when you're actually at the show, isn't it? It's kind of like you have a put in a quick call, and you do all of that kind of stuff, because it does get really busy and big. And I think it's just that kind of, any of that prep you can do beforehand is also really, really useful as well.
Jeremy Brim 17:39
It is a great opportunity, though, because the thing I found last year in my prep for it and reaching out to people, is they are there and they haven't got anything better to do. The calendar is their calendar is open for having coffees with people. So you know, my biggest client in the last 12 months, I secured at UKREiiF last year, and it was because I sent them a message on the run up. Would be great to catch a coffee with you. It would have been really hard to arrange a coffee with them wherever they were in the country. They've got a big national role. To pin them down to be in the same place as me at the same time. It'd be really hard, but we were both going to be there. I've managed to get a slot. And, you know, it's been a great journey. So you know, if you get, if you get a bit of a plan, people are there,
Ayo Abbas 18:22
yeah, and that's it. I mean, for example, I've had, you know, when I've literally sat down on the bench and spoken to somebody randomly, and then that turned into, you know, a relationship offline, we started chatting and all of that kind of stuff. So I do think those kind of serendipitous moments as well, unplanned moments are also there as well. And I think it's just being open to the conversation, because you never know who you're talking to. Who you're talking to. And I think that's one of my big takeaways, is that, and that's that's generally why I go. I like talking to people all the time anyway. So we got some comments. So we had Eimear Strong, who obviously is a fellow marketer, saying it's too big of an event to not have a purpose and strategy to attend, because people get booked up well in advance if you want to arrange meetings. So I think some of that is is true. So that planning part that Jeremy said is quite important. We've got Harriet from Gleeds is saying she's not attending, but managing the presence of others on behalf of Gleeds. So I'm looking to get some insights on what to do in this session.
Jeremy Brim 19:19
We've got one about will the WiFi network cope with all of this with the app, etc? Nathan, I found the signal was quite good last year just on 4G but it sounds like you've upped the game with that.
Nathan Spencer 19:31
Yeah. I mean the choice of me having some internet connectivity issues now, when we talk about WiFi, yes, we have. We've actually invested in partnership with the Royal armories in a in WiFi that will cover the whole event. And we've also, we did some testing on it last year, and it will be utilised this year. WiFi kind of I don't know how you describe it, but they utilise areas like Glastonbury, where it amplifies it across large, really awkward sites, because of here, we need to have the WiFi working to scan people into all of the tents and pavillions but some of the areas, because you've got buildings in and around, it's not one open space, like a big field. We did some testing on it last year, the operations team have led on it, and the WiFi, sponsored by Greystar, is going to be all up in the running. And, yeah, it should be fine. I can't guarantee if something happens, it should be fine. Yes,
Ayo Abbas 20:39
anyway, Lorraine is going to come for you. If it's not, joke!
Nathan Spencer 20:45
On the on the on the comment around, kind of the strategy. One of the most difficult things, I think, is these really big organisations which come with, really with so many different hats. So I know someone from Stan tech, sorry, my comments mentioned, because what they've done really, really great. They've taken a space, and they're running different round tables, let's say four round tables on a day, on different topics. You know, they might be doing one on data centers and one on utilities and one on this. The audience is there for a bit of everything. And when you're a large organisation, that's when I think you need real help, expertise wise, to go. Right? How do we approach this, not just as a business, but actually with all of these departmental areas in it, you've got regional departments, you've got different sort of sectors, infrastructure, you've got, yeah, maybe transport infrastructure, maybe you've got regeneration, maybe you've got logistics, and that's the that's one of the most difficult things, I think, is actually trying to get your coverage or the right, the right way of working without sending, yeah, 1000 people of your staff down to the event.
Ayo Abbas 21:54
No, because that's a huge cost as well. But also, I guess it's that people having using their own calendars to kind of touch base on if you're the infrastructure lead, then you have that whole infrastructure calendar that you're going for on behalf of that organisation, isn't it? So you're different people, and the people you're sending, you just need to make sure they're the right people, and that they're tapping into that kind of streams that you've now done, which are a lot easier to navigate. Because I think that's a huge thing, because otherwise you're right. It's so many different kind of hats you could be wearing, especially as long large organisations, that's quite difficult,
Jeremy Brim 22:23
but it's, it's got a map back to the business planning key targets per sector. It's kind of our game, Ayo in terms of your dream 100 list, as it were, you know. So we're not here for just fun, although it is quite a fun event, and it's lovely to network with people we know, but it's actually very important that your people are going and talking to the people you need to know, not just the people that they know already, because it's the it's the clients that have got programs of work off into the future in this kind of landscape, or potentially hellscape, after the spending review of what's coming, you know it's it's going to be Interesting, who you need to target for what, and within your lens of you know, you should probably think about your perfect client lens. Who are the types of clients and any other stakeholders upstream that we actually make money with and enjoy working with, and make sure you focus on talking to them as a priority, and which ones have got projects or the types of work that's in our sweet spot. So you're not just talking to randoms that have got stuff that's way out of your comfort zone, because you'll probably screw that up and make a loss. You need to try and figure out what your list of contacts are that you need to make, that are the ones you need to know that are good to work with, with the types of opportunities that are good for your business, because you won't have time to just talk to, you know, target anyone. It needs to be really focused activity.
Ayo Abbas 23:43
How are you finding the sentiment of the market at the moment? Nathan,
Nathan Spencer 23:47
positive. I think we've come through, particularly the housing side, because there's been this big, ridiculous number of 1.5 million homes, and whether we can achieve it or not, from what I'm hearing within government. It's just really kind of revitalised the department for formally leveling up. Now back to ministry of the real positivity in the market. We've data captured through registration periods and what the current feeling is in the market, and when we've looked at it from an investor/developer side of things, they are feeling it's something ridiculous and take this as a as kind of a small point, because all the data isn't in yet, but it's something like 92% of investors and developers feel either neutral or more positive about the market than they did this time last year. I think it's something like of that some of them are neutral. I think it's like for 42% were more positive. So from an investor, developer side, it feels as if the market is coming in, right? There's kind of this new government, you know, it's going to be a prolonged period of sort of stability now, over the next four or five years, where. They should be, unless anything massive goes wrong, their messaging should be similar throughout that that seems to be positive from what we're seeing. You just need those projects to come and actually, actually come, come and get I liked what the government did. As soon as they got in, overturned some decisions, you know, quickly brought forward with some data centers that had been rejected. They overturned those decisions in the ground, similar to a couple of the ready to go that been rejected. Quickly brought back forward planning given, let's go ahead, get us moving and building. So, yeah, I don't know if you're feeling similar from from your networks. You obviously have quite a lot of people in in the fields. But yeah, from my end, it seems to be very positive.
Jeremy Brim 25:45
Yeah, I think so. I mean, obviously aligned with that, Nathan that, yeah, the government is pulling the trigger on stuff that isn't their money, like Heathrow, etc. They're quite, quite happy to push stuff on that they're not paying for. A lot more more, yeah, more of my clients, and we're obviously interested. You know, I saw a piece by Mike reader, my good friend, who's now an MP and is speaking at the conference. I'm chairing one of the panels for you guys with with Mike speaking. I saw a article that he did about one of the big London projects, the tunnel. Thing, wasn't it that it's private money in effect, PPP, there's going to be a lot of that. Yeah, silver town, there's lots of that kind of noise. But the stuff that is related to actual government money, you know, we're kind of waiting for the spending review in June or maybe July, or whenever it's going to come. You guys would know better than me. So the builders that are more public sector reliant. There's lots of and the consultants too. There's lots of stuff that they can see the fruit in the orchard, but it's not ripe yet, was the way that someone put it to me, it's just out of reach.
Ayo Abbas 26:52
And I think that's that's an important point, because at the moment, I'm kind of especially because I guess people I deal with other marketing in the BD side more than anything else, and I think there is still hesitancy in firms at the moment, because, you know, stuff's on the horizon, but it's not landed, which is quite hard. And I think, I think to keep, to keep remaining positive. But it's nice that developers who are kind of more front end are starting to see the change. Are more positive. But yeah, has that trickled down to the kind of wider design teams I would question, I think it's probably where I'm seeing stuff at the moment.
Jeremy Brim 27:23
Yeah, I think it's one of those peaks and troughs things. So it's really hard thing to hear that feedback. Nathan, actually, because it does mean, it does mean it's coming. Now, a friend of mine, who I would respect in these things, who's a recruitment owns a recruitment business, was kind of saying that, like, a bit like 2008 you kind of get a difficult year, and then it rocket ships out, out the back of it. And so I suspect the investors, developers are ahead of the game, looking at that in 12 months time. It's just the rest of us are caught in that slight lull. But it's, it's good to hear. It's coming. So that's, that's good to hear. So it's even more important that this year, that UKREiiF, we're talking to the right people, that when the spending review happens and some stuff starts to come free and the government makes some more moves, we'll be ready to catch the stuff that falls.
Ayo Abbas 28:09
And what things are you what are the standout things you're looking forward to seeing at the show? Nathan, there are the big talks. Where should we be? I really want to see the rest is politics again, because they were so good.
Nathan Spencer 28:20
The rest is, politics is back with that's related. Bring them every year, which is, which is really cool for us to have. So we've got, there's a massive announcement being made on the Monday evening, which is, which is a bit secretive at the moment, but we hope that that will have senior ministerial kind of presence of some form. We have the new towns Task Force, which I find is really, yeah, some really exciting activity within that space. They're primarily there on the Tuesday. Valance, seen on our TV screens. A new science minister, we'd have seen our TV screens through COVID all the time is there championing the science and and Oxford Cambridge corridor. I think that's going to have a real big, big talking point at this year's event with everything that is happening around that sector. One of them that I love, regeneration, brainery, the charity partner for UKREiiF, they're doing a DJ battle on the Wednesday night with the mayors, which is really cool. So people are Andy Burnham battling against Ben Houchen, the conservative Mayor of Tees Valley. So I think those are the really fun things, which, which I think you need in this sort of setting where, you know, who'd imagine that you go to an important talk about the New Towns Taskforce and, you know, a potential project that's being brought forward. And then the next meet you're doing karaoke with the Thames Estuary. It's a really cool kind of mix of networking and thought leadership, right connections being made in different spaces. Yeah, you need a bit of fun don't you within these types of experiments. That's where friendships are made. And those kind of things lead to, lead to business, really. So yeah, there's, there's lots happening. There's a couple of major projects being announced. Some of them have had a seed from UKREiiF.
Nathan Spencer 30:18
So again, we've captured through the through the registration period, deals which have been done through UKREiiF, we're totaling about 2 billion of either investment or development projects that have been kind of put together and are just awaiting that investment to be landed. So yeah, we've got a couple of those being announced, actually at the event, of projects which have come forward through the event. So looking forward to hearing those as well. That does a bit of everything, isn't it? That's the great thing about this. You know, everyone else would say something different about what they're looking forward to the most.
Ayo Abbas 30:57
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