As the UK’s leading property, investment and infrastructure forum, UKREiiF is brimming with ambition and opportunity.
It’s an event where people, places and businesses come together to develop and drive forward projects that deliver regeneration and growth.
UKREiiF’s purpose is perfectly aligned with our ambitions at Humber Freeport. That’s why we’re pleased to be collaborating with partners to showcase, at UKREiiF, the many exciting opportunities to deliver investment and growth in the Humber.
We’re looking forward to coming together with key partners at UKREiiF in Leeds from May 19th-21st. We’ll be explaining to delegates our role as a catalyst and enabler, working with businesses looking to invest in the region, and showing how we can help turn investment ambition into economic reality.
UKREiiF will highlight that, despite the challenging economic landscape, there are a host of projects across the country and abroad that have the potential to drive growth and reshape regional economies. However, too often, creating the conditions in which these opportunities can be delivered has proven challenging.
That gap between ambition and delivery is where Freeports have an important role to play.
Simon Green, CEO of Humber Freeport
While much of the focus tends to be on the financial incentives Freeports offer, these are only part of the picture. The wider value of Freeports lies in their ability to bring alignment to what can sometimes be a fragmented and slow-moving investment landscape.
Large-scale developments can stall because of the complexity involved, whether that relates to planning, infrastructure or the challenge of coordinating multiple stakeholders with differing priorities.
Freeports provide a framework for navigating that complexity. They create a more coherent route from initial investor interest through to delivery, helping to reduce friction and provide a greater degree of certainty for those committing significant capital.
That’s very much the approach we have taken at Humber Freeport.
The Humber already plays a critical role in the UK’s economy. As the nation’s busiest ports complex, our estuary is a major gateway for international trade. The region has also long been associated with industry at scale, particularly in sectors such as energy, chemicals, manufacturing and logistics.
Freeport status enables the Humber to build on those foundations, strengthening the region’s proposition and making it easier for investors to see both the immediate opportunity and the long-term potential.
Humber Freeport CEO Simon Green, left, pictured at UKREiiF 2025 with Harry Hopkin, who was named the Freeport’s Prop Star last year.
Our three tax sites, in Hull, Goole and Immingham, each offer something different in terms of geography, infrastructure and industrial connections, but they are unified by a shared purpose. The focus across all the sites is on attracting and supporting large-scale projects that can deliver meaningful economic impact.
More than £2 billion of investment has been pledged across those sites since the launch of Humber Freeport in 2023. That figure in itself is significant, but what sits behind it is equally important. The projects span a range of sectors and industries, from energy and chemicals to manufacturing and industrial logistics. They will create thousands of skilled jobs, advance emerging technologies in the Humber, and support the region’s industrial transition.
However, the impact of Humber Freeport is not confined to our tax sites. As a pan-Humber organisation, we play an important role in connecting partners, helping to align activity, and connecting industry and investors in the region with policy and decision-makers in Westminster and Whitehall.
Large-scale investment requires effective collaboration between investors, landowners, developers, local authorities, Mayoral Combined Authorities and central Government. Without that alignment, even well-conceived projects can struggle to progress. By acting as a conduit between partners, we are able to help projects maintain momentum.
Our work with investors and partners is complemented by our £25 million seed capital fund, which is supporting projects that are strategically important to the Humber’s long-term growth, particularly in areas linked to skills, innovation and industrial transition. This initial seed capital has already generated over two and a half times the original amount in private sector match funding.
Finbarr Dowling, Chair of Humber Freeport (far left), pictured with Investment Minister Lord Jason Stockwood, Humber Energy Board Chair Richard Gwilliam and Future Humber Chair Andrew Dawes.
Taken together, these activities reflect a broader ambition. Freeports were never intended to be short-term interventions or isolated policy experiments. Their purpose is to support lasting economic change, creating the conditions in which businesses can invest, grow and innovate over the long term.
For the Humber, that means building on existing strengths while also supporting the region’s industrial evolution. It also means ensuring that the benefits of investment are felt more widely, through the creation of skilled jobs, an enhanced skills base, and stronger supply chains.
So the focus for Humber Freeport is firmly on delivery. Our foundation phase was about establishing the organisation, building partnerships and securing early investment. The challenge and opportunity now lie in translating that strong base into projects delivered at scale, with tangible benefits for the region and beyond.
As we look to UKREiiF, we recognise the need to move beyond potential to practical delivery. Investors are looking for locations that combine strong fundamentals with clarity and coordination, while regions are looking for large-scale investments that deliver significant growth and long-term economic benefits.
Freeports sit at the intersection of these expectations, providing both the framework and the support needed to help projects move forward. In the Humber, the combination of established industrial strengths, strategic location and a coordinated approach to investment means we’re exceptionally well placed to play a meaningful role in that process.
Ultimately, the success of Freeports will be judged not by the scale of their ambition, but by their ability to turn that ambition into significant economic outcomes. That’s where our focus lies and where, in the Humber, we’re determined to continue to deliver.
Simon Green is the CEO of Humber Freeport, and shared his insights ahead of UKREiiF 2026, taking place in Leeds from May 19-21.
