Last night was the annual Insider East Midlands Property Dinner in Nottingham. Now in its 14th year since Chairman Gary Church set the event up, the black tie dinner never fails to bring the great and the good of the East Midlands property world together for an enjoyable evening of networking, awards and general celebration of our local built environment.
Over 400 people attended land the compere was the BBC’s Colin Murray who delivered a well paced and humourous flow to the evening. His opening talk focused on the late Brian Clough who was of course a great ambassador for the East Midlands.
Every year the dinner collects and makes a charitable donation in the form of a raffle and last night raised over £7,000 for the Rainbows Children’s Hospice, a very worthy cause.
Ten awards had been judged and were awarded, these included; ‘Agent of the Year’ for Innes England, ‘Client Advisor of the Year’ for BWB Consulting and ‘Design Excellence Award’ for Byron House at Nottingham Trent University by Church Lukas. Our hometown of Chesterfield also won an award for the new market hall by GF Tomlinson.
The big award however last night was the ‘Special Achievement Award’; presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution, over a number of years, to the region’s property industry and also contributed significantly to the economic prosperity of the region. There could only be one winner this year – a man who sadly couldn’t collect his prize and probably wouldn’t have wanted to given the choice. A man who, despite long-term ill health, continued to smile and contribute so much to Nottingham right up until he passed away earlier this year. A man who founded the Invest in Nottingham Club and initiated a new chapter this year for the group, under its new name; Nottingham Means Business. Of course the winner was the late, and very great, Jim Taylor. Jon Enever of Gleeds and NMB accepted the award on behalf of Jim’s family and said a few words about him. He also read out a thank you from Jim’s son. It was entirely fitting that Jim should receive this award and I know there was a great level of support and appreciation in the room for him last night. There is absolutely no doubt that Jim’s legacy will live on for many years.
It was another great evening, attended by a wide range of individuals and companies from the local property world. For me personally and our growing business WCEC, it was fantastic to see so many friends from Nottingham. As one of, if not ‘the’, largest architectural practice in the East Midlands, we are keen to grow our profile in Nottingham and I know we have a lot of support in doing this.
The mood this year was noticeably different; a shift from anticipating growth in property and construction, to realising it, and a general view that everyone is incredibly busy at the moment. Long may that continue.
Above everything and even through the challenging years of the recession, there is a real sense of passion and pride in the East Midlands, followed by an ambition to really drive the region forward in the coming years, that’s what last night was about and that’s what Nottingham Means Business is about too.
Nottingham Means Business will be running the Nottingham Post Corporate Challenge in memory of Jim on Sunday and will be raising money for CityCare. To donate to the team please visit: http://www.gofundme.com/cl7auk