Dawn Roberts writes her final diary entry from MIPIM

A lunch for Birmingham’s MIPIM contingent at the Restaurant Mandala on the beach was oversubscribed.

CBRE’s Ashley Hancox emerged from a ten hour “power nap” especially – he went to his hotel on Wednesday night for 40 winks and failed to wake up until Thursday morning. Must be the Lee Evans-look-alike’s new job, as regional head of offices, taking its toll.

Tom Bloxham of Urban Splash turned up for pre-dinner drinks, but either didn’t like the seafood on offer or had a more pressing engagement, as he didn’t stay for lunch. Still, his suit left a lasting impression. One wag quipped it was from Stevie Wonder’s new clothing range.

Peter Crowther, of Bruntwood, was a popular attendee, as he has a war chest for acquiring office space in Birmingham. He said he loved coming to the city as it is “always sunny”.  Peter hails from Manchester, where, as we know, it’s always raining. Perhaps this is the elusive new marketing campaign Birmingham has been looking for. I can see it on a banner draping provocatively from the AWM apartment next year, right opposite the Manchester balcony: “Birmingham: it’s always sunny. Ha, ha”.

Mike Whitby’s speech was, as usual, passionate and upbeat. Though there was some concerns over the number of city transport projects in the pipeline. Apparently, on the Birmingham stand in the exhibition hall this morning he announced there were nine. By lunch this had reduced to eight. Let’s hope the New Street revamp is still on track.

Word has reached me of Birmingham’s Alternative MIPIM event, held yesterday at Anderson’s Bar and Grill. More than 100 attendees by all accounts, including Dom Stokes and Jon Andrews from Stoford, who flew back specially from MIPIM to do the double.

And why not? Because as we all know, while it’s 19 Degrees in Cannes, it’s always sunny in Brum.

>More: All the Post's MIPIM coverage, plus previous diary articles by Dawn Roberts