MY first tour of Derby ended in a visit to the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary site.
That was back in May last year, when I had come to Pride Park for the property show and had been whisked off by John Forkin and Peter Richardson for what they described as a personalised VIP tour of the city.
Prophetically, the first person they introduced me to was Derrick Conway of the Derby Hospitals NHS Trust.
About 10 months later, I found myself in the south of France at the Derby Embassy event at the MIPIM property show to talk about what had attracted UK Regeneration to Derby and I had quite a lot to say. People were swinging from the rafters and, though I'd like to think they had all turned out to hear me, I have to say that the star of the show was the city of Derby.
We were announcing our partnership arrangement with the Derby Hospitals NHS Trust on the old Derbyshire Royal infirmary site for a mixed-use UKR development of about 300 residential and some commercial units.
I spoke about the warm welcome, the team spirit, the sense of family.
I talked about John Forkin having the energy of 20 men, Peter Richardson having the charm of 20 more.
The whole team demonstrates the tenacious approach that should be adopted by cities when seeking inward investment.
I spoke about how we had met council leader Paul Bayliss, who was clearly resolute in his approach for his city and how council chief executive Adam Wilkinson was prepared to thump the table to make things happen. Mr Forkin described Derby as a city of the verge of a renaissance, a message that chimed with our new model for urban regeneration.
Marketing Derby should be congratulated. It was a great showing for this fine city at MIPIM.
On Budget morning last week, Michael Heseltine on Radio 4 declared that cities "should be set free" to grow prosperity. Trust me, Derby needs no telling to seize the day and is already free.
These guys have an attitude, an approach, a spirit of youth and fun and positivity and it is all very compelling, without even having to bang on about transport links.
By announcing our partnership with the Derby NHS Trust and by joining the Derby Embassy, I have formally requested that UK Regeneration be adopted into the Derby family.
I would hope that, by May 15 when the Derby Property Summit will take place, our adoption papers will be fully signed and registered.
