How to unlock the power of public and private collaboration in our cities

There is a desire among the real estate community to make public private partnerships work. But for every successful partnership, for every successful place, why is there an example of some collaboration that has not worked so well? EG gathered a panel of experts at MIPIM 2023 to find out exactly what the key ingredients are to unlocking the power of successful public private partnership across the UK’s cities. Here, those experts, share their insights. Jo Davis, principal and UK executive chair, Avison Young “It’s important to decouple regeneration and remember it’s not just about making great places. It’s about how those places are used and what that means to the people around them. Why is that important to the private sector? Because if you get that right, you make value and drive profit. We are all here to change places, but we are an estates industry and therefore we are driven by profit. And we shouldn’t be apologetic. We should be embracing it and accelerating it.” Patrick Duffy, partner, Shoosmiths “It’s all down to funding. Ultimately, schemes need to be paid for and quite often a lot of the money comes from investors. I think it’s bringing funders on at an early stage in the game to explain to them what the procedures are, what the vision is, and what the procurement rules mean. Funding is everything, but we need to familiarize it and we need to make sure everybody understands from day one what the process is going to involve.” Michelle Percy, director of place, Newcastle City Council “It’s our role in the public sector to engage and enable the private sector and bring them in to fill those gaps, because the resourcing gap and capacity is such a challenge right now and they can bring a lot to it. We’ve worked with lots of developers and finance institutions who are national and international but absolutely understand the quality of place and the delivery and their role that adds value. It’s about building strong relationships and trusting them. Who would you like to work with and trusting your instincts to do that. If that’s the right thing for the city and you trust the partners you’re working with, then it’ll come right.” Pat Ritchie, chair, Government Property Agency “The most important thing is that you get people who can understand each other and each other’s worlds and work in that space in between. And I think there are fewer of them than there used to be. We need to find ways of creating that capacity that can work across both. There is something about how we find ways that we protect and create more people that can work and see both sides and have that experience that they can then pass on and develop.” Jules Pipe, deputy mayor for planning, regeneration and skills, Greater London Authority “For public and private to come together to shape places there are two big things that we need to address. Those are language and capacity. Capacity within the public sector is completely outgunned on so many fronts by the private sector. The question is, what kind of partnership as a whole could we create with the built environment sector and local government to get over those problems of language and capacity?“ This discussion was part of the launch of EG’s UK Cities Investor Guide. Click here to read the guide in full >> In partnership with To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@eg.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @EGPropertyNews Main image © Nigel Forster/Shutterstock Portraits © Loïc Thébaud