Despite the UK's sluggish economy, the atmosphere among investors attending this year's international property and regeneration event MIPIM, in Cannes, was upbeat, especially about the UK's regions. This was in marked contrast to five years ago, when developers were only interested in London. The amount of overseas investment into the UK's regions last year was at record levels, helped by the low pound.

Last year's event was dominated by talk of Brexit. This year the word was barely mentioned. The new kids on the block were the UK's combined authority metro mayors.