Jacksonville UK Trade Mission: Construction, Infrastructure, and Real Estate Development Summit

A $90m Contract Won Following Last Year's Roundtable: Opportunities for UK companies to participate in Florida's infrastructure and real estate boom. Florida is in an infrastructure and development supercycle. The state's transport department is directing $15.4bn this year into highways, bridges, rail, ports and spaceports, part of a $29.7bn five-year programme. Downtown Jacksonville alone has $2.5bn underway: a $1.4bn rebuild of EverBank Stadium, the $693m RiversEdge scheme with its Four Seasons hotel, and the redevelopment of the historic Shipyards site. The owners commissioning that work are travelling with the delegation, Jacksonville Aviation Authority, Jacksonville University, the Jacksonville Port Authority and WW Gay among them. The panel covers how partners get chosen, what owners expect on risk, schedule and budget, and where the openings are for UK firms (a UK engineering firm won a $90m airport contract off the back of a recent roundtable). Request a place to hear what Florida's owners want from a UK partner. Dedicated Networking Opportunity This session is followed by scheduled networking with the delegation and guests at JW Marriott Grosvenor House. Sponsors and partners Sponsor: WW Gay Contractors Panel Mark VanLoh, CEO, Jacksonville Aviation Authority Robert Peek, Chief Commercial Officer, Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) Paul Jones, CEO, W.W. Gay Jim O'Leary, President and CEO, Haskell TBC representative of Balfour Beatty About Jacksonville's 2026 Trade Mission Jacksonville, Florida brings its annual trade and investment mission to London from Monday 12 to Sunday 18 October 2026. It is led by Donna Deegan, Mayor of Jacksonville, joined by Shad Khan, owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham Football Club, and more than 50 business and civic leaders from the region. Jacksonville is ranked the #3 large US city for economic growth. Florida has no personal income tax, leads the US in net business relocations, and saw some 698,000 new businesses formed in 2025, more than any other state; Jacksonville is where much of it lands. The city has been called the Wall Street of the South: FIS, Fidelity National Financial and GuideWell are headquartered there, and global banks including Bank of America, Citi and Deutsche Bank run major operations in the city. The UK connection is already working. The UK and Florida signed their trade and economic cooperation agreement in Jacksonville in November 2023, and Jacksonville's City Council holds a Memorandum of Friendship with the City of London. JAX Hub, the city's fintech innovation programme, is accepting applications from UK companies for its 2026 cohort. The mission exists to help UK companies succeed in US markets, with summits across finance and fintech, defence, aerospace and space technology, medical services and medtech, construction and real estate, retail and consumer brands, legal services and lawtech, AI and cyber security. Each pairs Jacksonville decision-makers with their UK counterparts. JAXUSA Partnership, the city's economic development agency, travels with the delegation and advises UK companies on entering the market.