Recently in Helen Roxburgh Category

As a complete MIPIM novice, I had scant idea of what to expect - especially since everyone kept kept saying it was not going to be the "Mipim of big announcements". But for a Mipim of "not big announcements", there certainly seems to me to have been a lot of things being announced. 

The catalogue of schemes being showcased from across Europe shows a number of key schemes across particularly Eastern Europe getting under way, and in the UK the local authorities are still here in force on the outlook for people to carry through their dreams of development - Invest in Nottingham still even has a yacht and Manchester seems to have taken over the entire second floor of the Palais. The likes of Birmingham , Croydon and the Wirral  have still been announcing new schemes and promoting new schemes. 

The bunker is packed with stalls and yes, there are still lots of girls in outrageous outfits, "promoting" their country/ company - it's funny how many times male property figures seem to have to "take a shortcut" through the Russian tent, where there are some lovely looking ladies dressed in red satin. Someone is running round dressed as a squirrel and I can't figure out why (or catch up with... him? her?). And Caffe Roma is still packed and still expensive. So overall Cannes seems pretty packed and geared up to me. Nonetheless, people still stop and stare wistfully into the distance when I ask about Mipims of yesteryear, the yachts, the decadence, the parties, the raves, the champagne and the caviar. 

In a show this year of making Mipim 2010 all work and no play, the London Mayor even refused to be filmed with the sea in the background, everyone is in their suits all the time, and agents have cancelled parties left right and centre to show that it's not just a jolly in the French Riviera.

But it's still the parties that everyone wants to talk about.