Knowing what the future may bring and being able to read people’s minds. They would be the superpowers that freshly departed British Land chief executive and newly “honoured” Chris Grigg would have if he could.
Being psychic, he says, would be an “awfully handy” skill to have if you want to manage people – and a business – really well.
But after 12 years in his post as British Land chief executive, most will agree that Grigg has done a relatively decent job.
He joined amid the global financial crisis and almost immediately had to go cap in hand to the market to raise £740m to shore up the balance sheet. Grigg admits this was one of his most nerve-racking experiences of leading the business. The moment where, fresh to a new industry, he had to stand up in front of a lot of people and ask them to subscribe a large volume of equity. That was the moment, he says, when he felt “out on the tightrope a little bit”.
And he admits there were some mistakes made along the way. Selling a 50% stake in Broadgate at the bottom of the market is widely considered one and Grigg has said publicly more than once that the REIT should have sold more retail sooner. But overall, he leaves the business in decent enough shape and in a very capable pair of hands – the returned Simon Carter.
What Grigg hopes he has left behind is a modernised business and a business that puts diversity at its heart.
Strength in diversity
He says that when he joined the business in January 2009, fresh from more than 20 years in the financial services sector – at Goldman Sachs and then Barclays – he was struck by how little diversity was talked about in the real estate sector, even compared with the banking industry.
“It felt natural as part of the modernisation process to put diversity into that,” says Grigg. “I always tried to make the business case that diversity would lead to better decision-making and that it would make us a stronger company.”
British Land was the first listed property company to get a National Equality Standard accreditation, is well known for the strict diversity quotas it stipulates for any adviser wanting a slice of business from it and is doing its bit to boost women up its rankings. Some 40% of its board and four of its 12 executive committee members are female. Both are overwhelmingly white, but Grigg had to leave something for Carter to deliver.
“I do think there has been quite a big change in the industry,” says Grigg. “It is now much more woven into the fabric of many of the businesses in the industry and much of the thinking of a whole bunch of really senior people.”
He adds: “Things cannot stay the same, they have to go forward. We have got to keep focusing on all these matters – and not just gender, but diversity more generally. Clearly, Black Lives Matter has raised that topic right up the agenda and created a different spirit than existed even a relatively short period of time ago. But there is an enormous amount of work in this industry that needs doing in terms of equality of opportunity, in terms of being less of a boys’ club, all those sort of things.
“And,” he warns, “people are going to have to keep working on it because if you look around, you find that it can slip backwards a bit.”
But for now, particularly with a new guard in place across most of the UK’s biggest property companies, that movement seems to be headed in the right direction.
A change of view
That changing of the guard – Carter at British Land, Mark Allan at Landsec and Rita-Rose Gagné at Hammerson – all within a year was not planned. There was no clandestine meeting of the chairs of the major REITs a year ago, says Grigg, where they got together and said “we should get rid of this lot”. At least he doesn’t think there was. But what he does know is that the change of leadership will bring a new view, a fresh pair of eyes and a different outlook.
“One of the reasons I’m so excited about Simon taking over is because of that fresh set of eyes, a different way of looking at the world, together with a lot of experience and expertise around British Land. That is a great combination for us as a business. And for me, I thought 12 years was a good time, but time enough too. And that sense of regeneration, of moving on, is a very healthy thing.”
Grigg says that he leaves the business proud of the work that British Land has done in definining what mixed-use should look like in London, with its campus projects at Broadgate in the City and Paddington in west London.
“That sounds cocky,” he adds, “but I don’t really mean it that way. There were many people who advised us but it’s something I’m very proud of because it ends up being better for our customers.”
And Grigg leaves the business with a CBE. Nominated by British Land employees, he was given the gong for his response to the Covid pandemic. The REIT was one of many in the real estate sector to offer support to its tenants when they needed it most.
One of its tenants, The New Diorama Theatre, labelled British Land “true partners and heroes”, saying: “This year, when we needed them most, they immediately wrote off our entire rent and utility bills.”
But after more than two decades in finance, and more than a decade in real estate, the time has come for something new. Something governmental.
A new role
In December, Grigg was appointed as an interim senior adviser to the Treasury, helping it set up the government’s new infrastructure bank. The bank, announced as part of the National Infrastructure Strategy, will play a key role in delivering on the UK’s net-zero carbon commitments and prime minister Boris Johnson’s election promise to “level up” across the country. The bank will co-invest alongside the private sector to enable vital infrastructure projects.
Grigg’s job will be to advise on the design of the bank ahead of further details being published at the Spring Budget 2021.
“The Treasury is very conscious of the fact that as we step away from the EU, the EIB (European Investment Bank) will no longer lend to the UK and it has lent a lot of money over the years,” says Grigg. “Having a public sector facilitator for infrastructure projects in the UK feels like an important project and hopefully I can add some value there.”
And he hopes to bring at least some of the lessons he has learnt from running British Land to the position. Chief among them, understanding people and bias, and taking charge.
“Always think about the people,” says Grigg, sharing his top tips for being a successful leader. “Think about whether you have the right people – and the answer is not always the same. People change and requirements change.”
So too should decisions. Grigg is a big believer in not always thinking you know best. “Where we have got things wrong, we have usually got it wrong because we have believed ourselves – what they call owner’s bias – so I would always be cautious about owner’s bias,” says Grigg. “And at the end of the day, if you are going to run a business or be in a leadership position, remember that it is about leadership and you cannot back away from that.”
Unless, of course, you’re psychic and can see it coming.
To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette
