Programme 2026

LREF 2025 showed what’s possible when the right people come together. In 2026, we’re taking that further. Our theme this year, Connectivity, explores how the links between people, places and sectors will define London’s next chapter.

London is already one of the most connected cities in the world – through its global networks, diverse communities and position at the centre of international trade, investment and innovation. But as the city faces generational challenges such as AI, climate change and shifting geopolitics, the question is no longer whether we are connected, but how well those connections work.

This is where those connections turn into real-world outcomes.

Explore the LREF 2026 agenda below:

Filter: All stages Keynote Stage Interactive Stage Place Stage Innovation Stage Borough Stage Roundtables

Keynote Stage

Great Hall
Hear from industry leaders tackling the biggest challenges shaping London’s built environment, with perspectives from policymakers, investors and developers driving the sector forward.

Interactive Stage

Old Library
Join expert panels and lively discussions exploring the sector’s most pressing issues, with opportunities for audiences to contribute ideas, perspectives and solutions.

Place Stage

Livery Hall
Explore the future of London’s key locations, with insights into major regeneration projects, emerging districts and the partnerships delivering growth across the capital.

Innovation Stage

Print Room
Discover new ideas, technologies and solutions transforming the built environment, with sessions showcasing forward-thinking approaches to development, design and delivery.

Borough Stage

Connect with borough leaders shaping London’s neighbourhoods, gain insight into local priorities and explore opportunities for partnership and collaboration across the capital.

Roundtables

Safe haven, resilient returns: London’s office market as the anchor in uncertain times

10:00 - 10:45 | Keynote Stage

In an era defined by geopolitical volatility and economic uncertainty, one investment thesis is crystallising with remarkable clarity: London’s office market represents a rare combination of stability and opportunity. This session examines why international capital is returning to London with office transactions surging over 50% to £9.5bn in 2025. We’ll explore how London has emerged as the “flight-to-quality” destination, with investors identifying London offices as one of the most resilient sectors for 2026.

Key discussion points include:

Why geopolitical uncertainty is strengthening London’s investment appeal
The return of large-scale transactions: 24 deals over £100million completed in 2025, double the previous year’s total
How investors view offices as one of the most resilient sectors through 2026, with exceptional fundamentals
Where smart capital is positioning for the new cycle

Join us to understand why, when the world feels uncertain, global investors are finding certainty in London.

In association with JLL

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

Jamie Acheson

Managing Director and Head of UK Investment
Feldberg Capital

Ali Meadows

Head of International Capital for UK Capital Markets
JLL

John Woodger

Head of Central London Capital Markets
JLL

Ruth Jackson

Head of UK Investment Management – Real Estate
M&G

Joe Binns

Head of Investment
Stanhope

Dan Nicholson

Executive Director
GPE

West London Orbital: Unlocking West London’s Future

10:00 - 10:45 | Place Stage

West London is a £70bn economy and home to some of the capital’s most exciting large-scale developments – but there’s a missing piece of the puzzle. In this session, West London Alliance, Transport for London and partners present the West London Orbital (WLO): the line that unlocks West London’s future.

The WLO is a proposed new London Overground route from Hendon to Hounslow. With the majority of the route using existing rail track, WLO services could be running by the 2030s. One of the Mayor of London’s top priority projects, the WLO would transform London’s economic geography and real estate investment landscape by:

connecting the regeneration opportunities of Brent Cross Town and Staples Corner at the northern end, via Neasden, Harlesden, Old Oak Common and Acton, to the creative tech innovation hub of Golden Mile London at the southern end
bringing nearly half a million more people within commuting distance of a transformed Old Oak district
linking to Heathrow and central London via the Elizabeth Line and the Midlands via HS2
supporting the delivery of an estimated 15,800 homes and 11,500 jobs

The panel will demonstrate the strong partnerships underpinning the project, explore some of the exciting development opportunities which the route would unlock, and set out the next steps to make the West London Orbital a reality.

This session is available to sponsor.

In association with West London Alliance

Connecting London’s Growth: Delivering the Digital Infrastructure for a World-Class City

10:00 - 10:45 | Borough Stage

As London’s economy, public services and built environment become increasingly dependent on digital connectivity, the delivery of resilient and future-ready digital infrastructure has become a critical challenge for the capital.

This session brings together London’s Sub-Regional Partnerships, local authorities and VodafoneThree to explore the barriers to delivering mobile and fixed digital infrastructure, from planning and investment challenges to development coordination. Through borough case studies and industry perspectives, the discussion will examine how stronger collaboration between government, local authorities, developers and telecommunication providers can unlock investment and ensure connectivity keeps pace with London’s growth ambitions.

In association with South London Partnership, Local London, Central London Forward, West London Alliance and VodafoneThree

Building Above the Network: delivering London’s transport integrated development

11:00 - 11:45 | Innovation Stage

Drawing on McLaren’s experience at Angel, Bank and Bond Street, this panel will share insights from delivering complex schemes above and around live TfL infrastructure. The session will explore the practical realities of building over operational assets – from safety, logistics and phasing to design and programme strategy – while examining why these locations have become increasingly attractive post-pandemic. It will also consider how overstation development can create commercially successful, well-integrated destinations that enhance local character, support London’s global competitiveness, and generate vital income to reinvest back into the transport network.

Such developments are now recognised as a critical tool in strengthening London’s economic growth, enhancing local character and supporting the capital’s global competitiveness, while generating vital income to reinvest in the transport network and enable further sustainable, high-density development.

In association with McLaren

From research to reality: what developers and councils can learn from Brent Cross Town’s heat network

12:00 - 12:45 | Innovation Stage

As heat networks move into a more mature and regulated phase, the real estate sector is increasingly asking: what do successful heat networks look like, and how are they enabled? The session combines RE:UK’s latest industry research with a live, large-scale case study to answer that question and highlight the impact of investment into developing connected infrastructure. Bringing together Related Argent, Barnet Council and Vattenfall, the panel will use Brent Cross Town to explore what heat networks are, the benefits they can deliver – from low carbon heating and energy resilience to improved customer service – and the partnerships behind them. Set to serve 6,700 homes and over 25,000 workers, the case study will illustrate how developers and local authorities can play a critical enabling role in delivering reliable, community-focused infrastructure.

In association with Vattenfall

Built on Partnership: 10 Years of Broadgate

12:00 - 12:45 | Interactive Stage

Marking ten years of the Broadgate Framework, this session explores what it takes to deliver large-scale, multi-site regeneration through a long-term single redevelopment partnership.

With over £1 billion invested by British Land and GIC across six schemes, each conditional on the success of the last, the framework relied on a one-team approach between client, investor and delivery partners. Lessons learned on earlier sites and digital construction advancements informed later phases, improving design decisions and identifying opportunities across the programme.

The panel will unpack what made this partnership work in practice: the principles that underpinned collaboration, the conditions that enabled a global investor to take a leap of faith, and what the industry can learn, including what could have been done differently and why this approach has yet to be adopted more widely.

In association with Sir Robert McAlpine

Housing for Every Londoner: lessons from Stroudley Walk

15:00 - 15:45 | Keynote Stage

London’s housing crisis has pushed the need to deliver at scale to the top of the agenda – but how often are new developments designed to respond to the diverse needs of local communities they serve?

Led by Muse in partnership with Poplar HARCA, the regeneration of Stroudley Walk is delivering 274 new homes, with 51% affordable housing. Shaped through extensive engagement with the local community, with more than 500 residents helping inform the masterplan and the mix of homes being delivered, the project responds directly to local housing needs by incorporating adapted homes designed for families with neurodivergent children – the first provision of its kind in Tower Hamlets.

The session will explore how the scheme balanced ambitious affordable housing targets with commercial delivery, and how design decisions from housing typologies to public realm, were shaped by local priorities. It will also open a wider conversation about how housing providers are responding to the need for adapted homes across their portfolios, and what lessons projects like Stroudley Walk offer for future developments. Crucially, the scheme demonstrates that responding to specific community needs does not have to come at the expense of viability, showing how developers can still deliver successful, commercially sound projects while making meaningful interventions that support local communities.

In association with Muse

National Policy, London Practice: Are the New Reforms Delivering for London?

15:00 - 15:45 | Interactive Stage

The planning, housing and development landscape has shifted significantly over the past year. From changes to the National Planning Policy Framework and the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, to the emerging London Plan review, local government reorganisation, New Towns proposals, the Homes England Strategic Plan, the Affordable Homes Programme 2026–36 and wider regulatory reform, government has introduced an ambitious package of measures intended to accelerate housing delivery, unlock investment and support growth.

Yet policy does not land evenly across the country. In London, where density, tall buildings, complex viability challenges and multi-layered governance are the norm, the impact of these reforms may look very different from elsewhere.

This interactive session will examine the cumulative impact of the government’s reform agenda from a London perspective. Have the changes introduced so far been sufficient to improve confidence, unlock delivery and change market momentum in the capital? Where are reforms having the greatest effect, and where do barriers remain?

Audience members will play an active role in shaping the discussion, contributing experience from across the London market through facilitated debate and live feedback. Insights from the session will be captured and fed in a post event infographic post, shared on all the socials, signposting London’s response to the national growth conversation, circulated by AtkinsRéalis, ensuring London’s response helps inform the national conversation on planning, housing and growth.

In association with AtkinsRéalis

The carbon connection: Decarbonising commercial buildings through intelligent refurbishment

11:00 - 12:30 | Roundtables

London’s property market is undergoing a major shift from ‘new build’ to revitalising existing urban landmarks. Driven by environmental urgency and rising costs – with London office construction up to 40% more expensive since 2020 – refurbishment has become a commercial and environmental imperative.

This session will provide a practical roadmap for the lifecycle of modern buildings, drawing on real world case studies ranging from one of Europe’s largest active commercial retrofits, Citi Tower, to the complete facade overhaul at 334 Oxford Street, down to the specialised heritage preservation of The Crypt at St Martin-in-the-Fields

Armed with in-depth knowledge of London’s architectural landscape, our panel of specialists will deliver actionable insights on intelligent refurbishment, with key themes including:

The logistics of restoring and reinstalling façade systems for major carbon savings
Strategic intervention points for routine maintenance through to complete overhauls
Balancing heritage preservation with the need for improved energy performance and climate resilience
The diagnostic frameworks for providing certainty around long-term asset value

In association with Permasteelisa Group

The Connected Venue: Sport, Culture and Capital in City-Making

16:00 - 16:45 | Roundtables

Stadiums, arenas and leisure venues are increasingly shaping London’s cultural economy, attracting investment, influencing global capital flows and creating value far beyond event day. Drawing on Mott MacDonald’s Global experience, this session will explore how these spaces can be commercially successful, adaptable and positively integrate with the local communities, acting as catalysts for regeneration while delivering long-term social and economic value. From revenue generation and fan experience to meanwhile uses, transport connectivity, and environmental performance, the discussion will focus on what lessons can be applied to London and where the Capital requires a more nuanced approach, with insights from both the public and private sector including owners, operators and adjacent land owners.

In association with Mott MacDonald