City regions, better infrastructure and Cardiff’s flourishing city centre were among the big opportunities for Wales identified at Business Insider’s Construction & Property Breakfast event.

Infrastructure should be a priority, said Helen Kane, Chair of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Wales, and Director of Access Included. She said: "We cannot use our buildings unless we can get to them.

"So, we need inward investment, infrastructure for both coming into Wales, and circulating around it - the electrification of the railways, the metro and all the other schemes."

Mark Bowen, Managing Director of construction company Andrew Scott, said investing in Cardiff Airport should generate rapid returns for Wales. He said: "The airport is a quick win. We need better connectivity to the airport, hopefully that will attract inward investment."

Michael Lawley, Chairman of Cooke & Arkwright, said Cardiff Capital Region and Swansea Bay City Region had the potential to open up opportunities in those areas.

He told attendees at the SSE Swalec stadium event: "The fact that politicians are now working together in a serious way is a very positive step. Economies don’t stop at county boundaries."

Construction companies could overcome skills challenges by using new techniques such as modular building, according to Martin Taylor, Managing Director of Edenstone Homes.

Taylor said: "Modular construction, factory-based construction, is inevitably going to become more necessary, particularly with standards with regard to energy efficiency."

But he added: "You can’t build unless you can mortgage at the end of it, and there are issues around that."

The other panellists were Pierre Wassenaar, Director and Head of Technology and Innovation at Stride Treglown; Damian Barry, Cardiff Planning Leader at Arup; Peter Downes, Development Consultant at Johnsey Estates; Douglas Haig, Managing Director of Seraph Group and Director for Wales of the Residential Landlords Association; Rob Jones, Property Investment Partner at Knight Frank; and Rhys Morgan, South Wales Property Manager at Associated British Ports.

The two panel event also considered the planning system in Wales, whether the Welsh Government should vary land transaction taxes, the external promotion of Wales, and skills.

More coverage of the event will be published in the May/June edition of Wales Business Insider magazine. Please click here to subscribe and ensure you receive your copy.