Browne Jacobson to Showcase Innovative Infrastructure Financing Models at UKREiiF 2026

The UK’s largest real estate and investment conference will feature new models aimed at unlocking finance for public infrastructure and accelerating data centre development. Browne Jacobson, a law firm based in the UK and Ireland, is set to host two significant events at the United Kingdom Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF), scheduled to take place at the Royal Armouries in Leeds from 19 to 21 May 2026.

The first session, titled Making PPPs work: Bridging the £725bn gap between ambition and delivery, will occur at the Rethinking Places Pavilion on Tuesday 19 May from 3.30pm to 4.30pm. This session is free for all conference attendees, with no separate registration required. During this event, a new report from Browne Jacobson and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) will be unveiled, detailing the requirements for modern public-private partnership (PPP) frameworks.

A cross-sector panel will engage in discussions from various perspectives, including business, development, finance, and local government, to explore practical solutions for risk sharing, funding innovation, transparency, and achieving social value alongside infrastructure delivery. Craig Elder, a Partner at Browne Jacobson, will chair the session and remarked, “Our panel session at UKREiiF will mark an important milestone in the strategic partnership we signed with the CBI last year to help shape the future of PPPs in financing infrastructure renewal across the UK.”

Elder added, “We’re excited to be launching new research that will be used to advise Whitehall policymakers on how to leverage private sector investment to help address the UK’s infrastructure backlog and support growth. This report will explore how the government can identify the most effective PPP models, following earlier waves of projects that supported hundreds of public infrastructure projects in the 1990s and 2000s.”

The second session hosted by Browne Jacobson is a breakfast event titled Powering growth: Data centres – design, planning and investment, taking place at Tattu, East Parade, Leeds, on Wednesday 20 May from 8.30am to 10.30am. This session aims to connect professionals from development, investment, planning, and the public sector, combining networking opportunities with a panel discussion on the various approaches to delivering data centres.

Attendees interested in funding, developing, approving, or designing the next generation of digital infrastructure will find this session particularly relevant. Darren Ashworth, a Partner at Browne Jacobson, will chair this event and stated, “As demand for data infrastructure accelerates, driven by a surge in applications for emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, the question is no longer whether to build but how.”

Ashworth expressed enthusiasm for the event, saying, “We’re looking forward to bringing together key voices from across design, planning, investment, and the public sector to explore what it really takes to deliver the generation of digital infrastructure.”

Browne Jacobson will lead a delegation of approximately 30 lawyers, representing sectors such as real estate and construction, energy and infrastructure, technology, government, health and life sciences, banking and finance, and education, to the UKREiiF.