As the run-up to MIPIM '08 gathers pace, Ian Halstead discovers what the Black Country's three regeneration companies are planning.
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MIPIM is always brutally competitive, as thousands of organisations from across the globe clamour to win the attention of funders, developers and occupiers.
Anyone who believes the Cannes event is purely a lavish and expensive jamboree misses the point entirely though.
These few days can be the difference between success and failure for proposed schemes; whether in Sandwell, Stockholm or Saskatchewan.
MIPIM will never offer a solid platform for deal-making, but the fragile relationships nurtured in its hot-house atmosphere most surely do.
RegenCo chief executive Karen Walker believes the calibre and range of delegates makes attendance vital.
"It's not the deals you do, it's the conversations you have which enable the deals to be done," she says.
"For networking and the chance to sit face-to-face with people you'd never usually meet, it is essential."
MIPIM '08 is especially important for RegenCo, whose three major projects - the All Saints office scheme, the long-awaited £100 million Tesco store and the new Sandwell College campus - are on the cusp of planning.
Not the least of her conversations will be with Dr Peter Cromar, chief executive of Walsall Regeneration Company (WRC), who identified Walker's potential and brought her into his fledgling team as a consultant, as soon as he was appointed in 2004. "He'd got a tremendous background in planning and the public sector, but needed someone with private sector development experience," recalls Walker. "I had a fantastic seven months in Walsall, helping him set up the organisation. We had very different backgrounds and skill-sets, which I think is why we got on so well."
So is knowing the ebullient Cromar a handicap or a blessing, as their respective organisations jostle for attention at Cannes?
Neither says Walker ... and sounds as if she means it.
"I don't see Walsall as opposition, or Wolverhampton for that matter. The biggest challenge for the Black Country isn't about individual sites and schemes, it's about narrowing our GDP gap with the rest of the country," she says. We're all at MIPIM to promote the Black Country, with the common theme of trying to improve the area's economic performance through physical regeneration."
Cromar himself clearly shares Walker's mindset about the merits of the Cannes event.
"If you are in regeneration, you need to be there. It's about relationship-building, and about a different level of access to very senior people," he says.
Cromar admits that MIPIM was critical in bringing Urban Splash to Walsall, for its £180 million Waterfront mixed-use scheme. At this month's event, Cromar will be working closely with the West Midlands Developers Alliance, RegenCo's Walker and other regional delegates.
"I find that I trumpet the Black Country as much as I do Walsall," he says. "It's vital that we sell the region, but also critical that we focus on delivery for individual schemes."
Cromar's achievement in convincing Urban Splash to set up camp in Walsall - the first time it has worked outside a UK city - has resonated with the wider development community.
"There's no doubt that having them on board does help. They generate a lot of confidence in the market, because people know their schemes will be delivered," he admits.
Cromar's views of the wider merits of MIPIM also chime with his opposite number from RegenCo.
"Karen's right. You do need to look outside your own patch. Meeting new people from different countries often provides a spark, which then makes you challenge the way you think about your own work."
The last of the three Black Country regeneration vehicles is Wolverhampton Development Company (WDC) formed at the back end of 2007 and making its MIPIM debut.
As with RegenCo, there's a strong personal link to Cromar in the form of development director Will Evans, who held the same role at WRC from March 2005 until last October. He doesn't entirely share his former boss's views on MIPIM.
"It is ridiculous to have to go to the south of France to meet people. I see it more as a springboard - or a reinforcing mechanism - rather than a sole mechanism," says Evans.
"It's important that you have a structured approach to the event. I always go through the attendance lists and identify who I'd like to meet. You do have to strike a balance, though, between random meetings and your set targets."
However, Evans is entirely in accord with Walker and Cromar about the way the Black Country should promote itself at Cannes.
"All the three URCs do have distinct offers, but it is important to take a regional approach at MIPIM. You're not fighting your own corner, you're trying to convince people that they should look at this sub-region as a whole."
The last key figure in the Black Country line-up will be Charles Roach, Black Country Investment's development director, and the spearhead of the sub-region's inward investment activities.
He's very much in tune with the 'bigger picture' mindset espoused by RegenCo's Walker and WRC's Cromar.
"Clearly, we're there to promote the Black Country on an international stage, and trying to attract investors, developers and potential occupiers," says Roach.
Intriguingly, Roach says another benefit of MIPIM is the chance to catch up with fellow delegates from the Black Country, and the wider West Midlands.
"We all focus so tightly on our day-today activities during the year, that it's good to discuss what's happening elsewhere in our own region, without distractions," he says.
