Amidst a jam-packed UKREiiF, we held our Place-Based Impact Investing (PBII) Network Meeting on 20 May 2025 – a big thanks to our friends at Midlands Engine, who hosted us in their pavilion.

Chaired by Sam Monger, our Head of PBII and Strategic Advisory, we spoke about applying PBII at a regional scale, sharing the findings in our recent Place-Based Prosperity report that was commissioned by the Midlands Engine. We also updated members on our upcoming white paper on local investment by Local Government Pension Service (LGPS) funds.

Place-Based Prosperity: The institutional investment roadmap for Midlands growth

We kicked things off with a recap of our work with the Midlands Engine (ME) on how to boost institutional investment in the region, including how the Midlands can learn from what Greater Manchester has achieved.

Josh Hawkins, Head of Global and Investment at ME, gave insights into the region. Sadly, due to its loss of government funding, ME will be closing down soon, but Josh was keen to highlight the region’s investment landscape and how investors can best engage with opportunities.

He discussed:

• Increasing collaboration between local authorities, referencing a recent agreement between the West and East Midlands Combined Authorities, which is a step in the right direction. This still excludes key parts of the region, but the foundations are taking shape.
• The region’s position as an innovation leader with university campus growth and Europe’s largest science park in Loughborough.
• Real estate opportunities on brownfield land capable of delivering 246,000 homes.
• Strong manufacturing heritage and future opportunities such as Rolls-Royce’s market-leading position in the aircraft engine industry.

Helen Turner at Midlands Innovation then discussed the ‘Forging Ahead’ initiative, which is working to supercharge the commercialised ecosystem to keep innovative businesses in the region and create a favourable environment for them to flourish.

Helen emphasised the key components for achieving this are the region’s strong knowledge base and research infrastructure, retaining talent and attracting investment. Helen added later: “As a sector we need to keep being strong local partners but we need to be comfortable with a flexible definition of local. My main takeaway from discussions with The Good Economy was that for all of us the outer boundary of local geography is the UK.”

And that message was endorsed by George Freeman, UK Trade Envoy to Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore & Brunei, who stated that for trade and investment globally the UK has to be the brand.

New White Paper on Local Investing

Finally, we touched on the progress of our upcoming white paper on local investing which we plan to release imminently. The aim is to propose a common framework for developing local investment strategies that can be easily adopted by LGPS Administering Authorities and pools.

The paper will delve into how ‘local’ should be defined from an investment perspective, how the relationship between individual funds and Pools should work to balance the need for local input with economies of scale, and the role of emerging Local Growth Plans in identifying investable opportunities.

The white paper has already attracted widespread sponsorship and support from across the LGPS, investment management and local government sectors. If you’re not already involved and would like to be, let us know.

Next Event

Our next event is scheduled for 24^th September in Bradford. It’s also an interesting opportunity to see the role of culture in regeneration in the UK City of Culture.

If you’re interested in becoming a member of the PBII Network, please get in touch with Sam Monger, Head of PBII and Strategic Advisory