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Bridgemere UK, led by former Redrow Chairman Steve Morgan CBE, has appointed Nicole Burstow as its new Chief Financial Officer.

Burstow joins from Dow Schofield Watts, where she was deputy CEO and CFO, and previously spent nearly 16 years at Deloitte.

She succeeds Ashley Lewis, who is retiring in September after 20 years at the company.

Cheshire-based Bridgemere UK, which is part of the £1bn Bridgemere group of companies, has investments predominately in the housing, property and leisure sectors which include Carden Park Hotel & Spa and Castle Green Homes, one of the UK’s fastest growing housebuilders.

Bridgemere Investments, which is also part of the Bridgemere Group, has a substantial shareholding in Redrow and Spire Healthcare and is also currently underwriting Regional REIT’s £110.5m capital raise.

Morgan said: “It’s an exciting time for Bridgemere and we’re delighted to have recruited someone of Nicole’s calibre.

“It is rare to find a comparable role outside London, and the position attracted a huge level of interest. 

“The range and diversity of projects we’re involved in is unprecedented and Nicole will work across all aspects of the business, including The Steve Morgan Foundation. 

“Nicole was an exceptional candidate in a very strong field, and she joins the company at a time of huge opportunity.

“Castle Green Homes is looking to build 600 homes in the current financial year while we’ve invested £25m in the last five years alone at the Carden Park Hotel, including £10m to develop an award-winning Spa, now recognised as one of the best in Europe.

“More recently we played a major role in the proposed merger of Redrow with Barratt Developments, as well as underwriting Regional REIT’s £110.5million capital raise.”

Burstow said: “I’m delighted to have joined Bridgemere. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I knew I just couldn’t turn down.

“The range and diversity of the role is unique and we are seeing a number of exciting opportunities in the current market.

 “Being involved in the Steve Morgan Foundation, which has been changing the lives of millions of people since 2001, will be hugely rewarding and I am very much looking forward to working with the Trustees to continue to make a positive difference to those in need.”

Morgan, who is a leading philanthropist, also played tribute to the outgoing Finance Director Ashley Lewis.

“Ashley has been a valued friend and trusted colleague for 20 years.  Over this period, the Group has seen transformational change, including developments across Europe, the acquisition and sale of Wolves and several other transactions including our earlier healthcare investment in Circle.  His significant contributions at Carden Park Hotel and Castle Green Homes, as well as his work at The Steve Morgan Foundation have been hugely valued and appreciated and I wish him well in his retirement.”

Bridgemere and Foundation Capital Ventures have secured planning consent for a 343,000 sq ft science and innovation campus near Cambridge.

South Cambridgeshire District Council has granted planning permission to the Cambridge Discovery Campus, which will comprise six laboratory-enabled buildings. The project is estimated to have a gross development value of circa £400m, sources said.

Steve Morgan, who founded housebuilder Redrow 50 years ago with a loan from his father and who still holds 16% of the shares, leads the Bridgemere group where he is chairman.

“We will make our own contribution to the future success of the life sciences sector in Cambridge via the provision of much needed, state-of-the-art R&D buildings”

Will Heath, CEO, Bridgemere

Bridgemere is working with Foundation Capital Ventures, Rob Sadler’s new property company, on the project. Sadler was a senior director at Savills, where he led the Cambridge office and set up the Savills’ science UK programme.

The phased redevelopment of the 50 acre site will also include a bespoke amenity building overlooking sports fields to be shared with the local community and a 30 acre country park.

Will Heath, CEO, Bridgemere said: “We will make our own contribution to the future success of the life sciences sector in Cambridge via the provision of much needed, state-of-the-art R&D buildings within a campus that not only supports the health innovations of tomorrow, but which also contributes positively to the local community and surrounding area with additional amenity and green space for everyone to enjoy.”

Contractors have been appointed to begin the initial phase of development, which will deliver the first of the six lab buildings alongside amenity facilities. The project is targeting a BREEAM Outstanding rating.

Connectivity to wider Cambridge ecosystem

The site is located two miles south of Cambridge city and adjacent to the new Southwest travel hub that provides connectivity to both Cambridge Biomedical Campus and the city centre.

“The accessibility of Cambridge Discovery Campus to other notable life science R&D locations makes it perhaps the most strategically important new campus in the cluster”

Rob Sadler, Foundation Capital Ventures

Sadler added: “The accessibility of Cambridge Discovery Campus to other notable life science R&D locations – the closest being Cambridge Biomedical Campus accessible in minutes by road – makes it perhaps the most strategically important new campus in the cluster.

“In addition to its superb geographical position, the campus itself will offer occupiers an exceptional ‘whole campus’ environment, marrying flexible, high-quality lab and write up facilities with thoughtfully considered amenity within a stunning parkland setting.”

Bridgemere has submitted a planning application for the Cambridge Discovery Campus on the former Bayer Crop Science site.

Bridgemere is working alongside Foundation Capital Ventures, which is promoting this site in its prime Cambridgeshire location at the heart of the region’s life sciences cluster.

The plans for the scheme include substantial lab space and offices, together with an amenity building, and development of the country park. The application will be heard at committee on 6 December 2023.

Following a successful resolution to grant planning permission, the site will undergo an 18-month period of demolition and remediation works before development of the Cambridge Discovery Campus commences in 2025.

Will Heath, CEO of Bridgemere commented:

“Cambridge has rightly established itself as one of the leading life sciences centres in Europe, and with the Cambridge Discovery Campus we have the opportunity to bring forward a high-quality life sciences site that can help to meet the soaring demand for both laboratory and office space in the region.”

The Cambridge Discovery Campus is the second phase in Bridgemere’s remediation and redevelopment of the Hauxton Chemical Works site. Phase one was sold to Redrow Homes with planning permission for 380 new homes.

 

Bridgemere Chairman, Steve Morgan CBE has been named as number 6 in the Sunday Times Giving List 2023.

Sunday Times Giving List 2023

The Sunday Times Giving List, in association with the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), tracks the philanthropic activity of almost a third of 350 of Britain’s wealthiest people. It is based on the proportion of total wealth donated or pledged to charity by those who appear in the Sunday Times Rich List.

Steve Morgan CBE was named number six out of the top 100 this year, having donated an incredible £59.6 million, via the Steve Morgan Foundation.

Collectively, the top 100 gave £3.431 billion – up by more than a billion on last year’s total giving. Seven members of The Sunday Times Rich List gave more than £100 million in the past year, 42 gave £10 million or more, while 90 were members of the £1 million donors club.

Giving money away well

At the age of 21, Steve established Redrow, which grew to be one of the UK’s most successful housebuilders. But despite his obvious success in business, Steve has never forgotten his roots on some of the toughest streets in Liverpool.

It was this desire to give something back that prompted him to set up the Steve Morgan Foundation in 2001 to help bring positive change to the communities closest to his heart and beyond.

He explains: “I am enormously proud to be on the Sunday Times Giving List, not just personally but also on behalf of the team at the Steve Morgan Foundation, who work exceptionally hard not just to give money away, but to give money away well.

“We’re supporting so many great charities to help change the lives of those in greatest need, and we’re committed to working with fantastic partners that share our vision of changing lives for good. I’m proud of and thankful to our staff and trustee team for all their dedicated work.”

The Steve Morgan Foundation

The Steve Morgan Foundation is passionately committed to changing lives for good by working with partners that make a positive difference to those in need. It provides funding, support, expertise and best practice to the charities and organisations it supports and addresses a range of areas including poverty, homelessness, health and wellbeing, and education and training.

Steve continues to prioritise the ongoing support of the Foundation alongside his business interests and has donated more than £300 million to it since 2001.