Bucknall challenges Birmingham to do even better - Response Source

Response Source, 13th March 2008

Project consultants Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) today praised Team Birmingham's presence at the international property conference at MIPIM in Cannes and threw down a challenge to the city and its developer partners.

RLB chairman David Bucknall said: "What Team Birmingham and council leader Mike Whitby has achieved in Cannes this week is tremendous but I reckon we can do even better next year.

"We are announcing today that we are already signing up for MIPIM 2009 and we will be having proactive discussions with the Team Birmingham organisers to see how we can all raise our game."

RLB chose Cannes to hold its global board meeting for a business that now has 2,000 staff in 60 locations.

David Bucknall said: "Teaming up with Rider Levett has not only given as access to world markets, it has enabled us to help clients like Tesco and British Aerospace roll out their businesses on the global stage.

"Not only that, it has enabled us to invite inward investors into the West Midlands region such as Westfield at Merry Hill and Goodman at Eastside."

He said that in Birmingham RLB was keen to work with the city, and Clive Dutton and his regeneration team in particular, to build on the continuing successes.

"We need to sell ourselves harder to the new world investors coming out of Hong Kong, China and particularly Australia, which has a very aggressive banking sector," he said.

"MIPIM is fantastic for us and for Team Birmingham. It is the world's best property congress and gives us a direct route to market that cannot be replicated in any other way.

"Here, you can have a ten minute conversation with five people that would take weeks to set up back home, with busy diaries and constraints on people's time.

"If Birmingham can package itself successfully, MIPIM 2009 can be even more successful and we may look back on the announcement of £17 billion of city development as merely a staging post."

Coun Mike Whitby, leader of Birmingham City Council, welcomed RLB's commitment to support the city at MIPIM 2009.

"This is fantastic news and we very much welcome the support of David Bucknall, his chief executive Lance Taylor and all the Birmingham team at Rider Levett Bucknall.