Fighting off fierce competition from Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, the Royal Armouries in Leeds has once again been selected to host the UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in May 2024.
Formed in 2022, UKREiiF has quickly become the UK’s leading platform in the regeneration, development and property sectors. This three-day event brings together the public sector – with every core UK city and region involved – alongside Government, investors, funders, developers, housebuilders and more.
Hosted at the Royal Armouries in 2022 and 2023, UKREiiF is a significant driver of footfall and income to the city of Leeds. In 2023 UKREiiF attracted almost 10,000 delegates to the city, generating £12.1m visitor spend for the local economy. UKREiiF 2024 sets to be bigger and bolder than ever, aiming to attract 12,000 delegates to the Leeds Dock area and generating an additional visitor spend of £20m.
The Royal Armouries and New Dock Hall is the largest combined conference, events and exhibition space in Leeds. It has recently upgraded part of its conferencing facilities as part of the Armouries 700 Masterplan, an ambitious, ten year project to transform the visitor experience at the national museum of arms and armour in Leeds.
Nat Edwards, Director General and Master of the Royal Armouries said ‘The Royal Armouries is delighted to be one of the organisations hosting UKReiiF in 2024. After the success of the event in 2023, we’re excited to rise to the challenge of providing a world class experience for even more delegates over the coming years, against the inspirational backdrop of the national museum of arms and armour.’
Ben Campbell, Venue Director at Royal Armouries said: ‘I am both proud and excited that following a comprehensive bid process we have retained UKREiiF for the foreseeable future; this is a huge success for the city of Leeds and wider Yorkshire region and we are excited to be working with and supporting UKREiiF on the event and their annual ambitions for growth. The success of the event has been phenomenal, and we very much look forward to welcoming thousands more delegates to our venue and site over the coming years.’
Tom Riordan, Chief Executive of Leeds City Council, added:
“A big thank you to the UKREiiF team, the council and WYCA teams, the Royal Armouries and our Team Leeds partners for all the hard work and effort that has gone into hosting the first two UKREiiF events and also the bid process. As always in the city, our power through partnership and focus on collaboration has proved very successful and we are looking forward to welcoming more delegates in 2024 and seeing the conference grow bigger and better in the next few years.”
Royal Armouries beat off stiff competition from rival cities to host this prestigious event working closely with organisers to achieve their ambitions to grow. The city of Leeds presented a successful partnership-led bid with support from WYCMA, Leeds City Council, Leeds Hotels & Venues Association (LHVA) and Visit Leeds. The partnership approach led to a successful city-wide submission, guaranteeing delegates a very warm Leeds welcome when they visit 21st – 23rd May 2024.
Author: Adam Parry
Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.
