NOTTINGHAM property consultant Tim Garratt has been to MIPIM six times.

In the boom years, the Cannes festival – the biggest gathering of the property and development industry in the world – had a reputation for Champagne-fuelled parties.

But with the property industry having been at the centre of the economic crash, it now has a much more sober tone.

Mr Garratt, a partner with Nottingham surveyors Innes England, said: "There is a lot less of the party atmosphere than there used to be. It's much more serious now.

"The last year for the property industry was tough, this year is little different.

"But there is a sense now that things may start to pick up – there are some serious players out there looking for opportunities."

There was, he said, "enormous interest" in the six sites which Nottingham City Council will be vacating when it moves into Loxley House.

The interest is believed to come from developers interested in uses other than offices.

"I think we have to say 'watch this space' because I think there will be some announcements fairly quickly," said Mr Garratt.

The city's wish to develop a central business district in the Southside area around the railway station had also gone down well at MIPIM.

Mr Garratt said: "I think branding Southside as a central business district is going to work well for us, and having the council in Loxley House could work as a real catalyst for further development."

Nottingham should continue to have a prominent presence at MIPIM in the future, he said.

"I look at it like this: in this industry you have to market yourself and marketing is about being out there and being seen.

"If you knew which 5% of your marketing worked, you probably wouldn't do the other 95%.

"My take is that there is a very high number of the '5% people' here at MIPIM. They are decision-makers and serious players."