This year, UKREiiF saw upwards of 16,000 people come together in a celebration of all things built environment. The jam-packed three days of discussion, learning, and networking were bathed in glorious Yorkshire sunshine, and cautious optimism filled the air in between panel sessions, where leaders from across the country discussed the challenges and opportunities we all face in our work.

Our delegates lifted their heads from their drawing boards in our London and Manchester studios to deliberately and consciously focus on the bigger picture for a bit. UKREiiF is fabulous for recalibrating how you view your own work, as it brings people together from diverse backgrounds and different corners of our industry to discuss and share experiences that shed new light on old problems or spotlight issues that have been lurking in the background.

In that spirit, we’ve taken a bit of time to gather our thoughts from the event and share them here. If our takeaways resonate with you, reach out! Let’s discuss over a brew and a biscuit or two.

Leveraging inclusivity and development as a route to good growth 

A major theme across all aspects of the conference was the increasing call-to-arms around inclusive development – a term that is now normal, not niche. This is about making sure that all projects serve diverse communities and actively reduce inequalities through their design and delivery. It’s clear that social value is no longer a nice-to-have, but has become a core metric in understanding and evaluating projects and those responsible for their stewardship.

Going beyond Net Zero to planet-positive design 

Again, Net Zero was front and centre, which is positive given the rhetoric and political uncertainty that has surrounded it over the last six months or so. The push for regenerative design, circular economy principles, and the rise in carbon literacy from decision-makers, policy creators, and building commissioners shows no sign of abating. There is now an increasing expectation that architecture, design, and development must be climate-positive – just meeting regulations or “doing no harm” seems to be fading into the background.

Technology, flexibility, and data as differentiators

There was a lot of discussion about how we think about “assets”. This is alien language to architects – buildings are, of course, assets to some, but to most people, they are homes, workplaces, and vital social infrastructure. It’s good to see a shift in some corners of the property market towards more dynamic, user-centric metrics. Occupier satisfaction came up a lot: in tight financial times, giving people what they want – better tech, more flexibility, and the data to show them how to use their buildings and spaces to their advantage – is a key differentiator.

Place-based investment, local empowerment, and impact balanced against viability and regulatory challenges

An overarching theme across the entire programme was how place-based investment (and by extension, design, construction, and development) can have a lasting impact. It’s reasonable to suggest that no one has an issue with having a positive impact on society. Still, it’s important to note that enthusiasm for hyper-local engagement, community co-design, and the benefits of balanced and equitable development models were constantly countered by arguments revolving around the ongoing challenges of new regulatory regimes, increased borrowing costs, and lack of capital investment in public estates. We are, after all, in a post-austerity but not yet a post-constrained world. Every other sentence was punctuated by words like “viability”, “friction”, and the need to “unlock” things.

The answer almost always seems to be some form of collaboration – in other words, risk sharing. The real question is: does taking more risks improve things? We think it’s more important to find better ways of raising funds, which means demonstrating value, spending money in more impactful ways, and being provocatively innovative. What matters is mixing uses, bringing together cross-sector expertise, and being brave about doing the right thing.

Many thanks to our guest panellists, those who invited us to join their panels, and the army of supporters who helped us organise this year’s event. It’s great to be reminded just how wonderful our industry is – there are so many reasons to feel optimistic. Yes, we work in a world that is facing unprecedented challenges, but coming together and collaborating with like-minded people, and being challenged by those who think differently, helps us get under the skin of those challenges with clarity and purpose. We’ve come away from this year’s conference full of energy and enthusiasm to keep going, to tackle the biggest social challenges that we face, and to continue to strive for the best possible outcomes for communities, people, and the planet.