Leeds Dock: Residents claim UKREiiF conference making lives a misery with blockades and drilling at midnight
Residents at Leeds Dock have claimed a major conference being hosted in the city is heaping misery on those living nearby
The annual UKREiiF event (UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum), was hosted at the Royal Armouries Museum between May 21-23 this week.
Formed in 2022, UKREiiF has become the UK’s leading platform in the regeneration, development and property sectors. The event gathers 10,000-12,000 delegates and is said to raise around £20 million for the local economy through visitor spend.
However, residents living at Leeds Dock have hit out at the event, claiming that stringent security measures have left them feeling unwelcome in their own homes.
Resident Frankie McGloin told the YEP: “It happened at the Dock last year and we had major issues then. I’ve been questioned as to where I live and it just feels like a really hostile atmosphere.
“We’ve had roads closed without any notice, increased WiFi signals from the event knocking out people's private WiFi, causing issues working from home, and the icing on the cake was power tools being used at close to midnight to erect a fence.”
Another resident, Michele Taylor-Boocock, told the YEP how she and her husband were granted residents passes to bypass through the diversions, due to health issues, but that others weren’t so lucky.
She said: “They’ve basically fenced off the street, told us we can only walk on one side of the road at certain times. It’s just horrendous.
“I told them ‘I’m waiting on a knee replacement, my husband’s had a heart attack we’re not walking round your diversion’ so they have given us passes but why couldn’t they do that for every resident?”
Meanwhile, resident Rob Wager also raised concerns over emergency service access, revealing that his building’s fire assembly point had been gated up with no alternative indicated.
He said: “A number of us have raised serious concerns about emergency services access while the conference is in progress.
“I don't know how emergency services vehicles could currently gain access to the building in any kind of emergency.”
In a joint statement with Leeds City Council, Ben Campbell, venue director at Royal Armouries, said: “We are very sorry to hear about the issues experienced by residents of Leeds Dock due to the UKREiiF conference.
“During the extensive planning stages of putting on such a large event, the organisers of UKREiiF, Leeds City Council, landowners Allied London and the Royal Armouries Conference & Events have worked together to mitigate risks and issues.
“A number of consultations sessions were held with local businesses and residents to outline the public access routes, build schedule, and security processes.
“Road closure applications were approved with correct processes regarding notifications followed. In terms of Wi-Fi, additional access points have been installed on a different frequency to standard home networks, however we have been assured that this should not affect home Wi-Fi in any way.
“We have been made aware that there was unauthorised work carried out by a contractor last night and an apology has been issued to residents for this disruption which we wholeheartedly endorse as this is not acceptable practice.”
He added that the venue would continue to engage with the residents at Leeds Dock to “minimise the impact of this event”, both this year and for future events.
Mr Campbell said: “We will be carrying out an in-depth analysis following the event to identify any lessons learnt alongside the organisers and key stakeholders.
“We are committed to delivering this event through to 2025 and will work hard with our partners and local residents in future years.”
Hosted at the Royal Armouries in 2022 and 2023, the Leeds Dock venue recently fought off fierce competition from Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool to continue hosting the event through 2025.
In the previous two years, UKREiiF generated £18m for the local West Yorkshire economy, according to the Armouries and the 2024 edition was forecast to generate £20m.