The property boss wants the government to encourage firms to focus on green issues.
Sitting in the boardroom of Grant Management’s head office in Edinburgh’s West End, the last thing that comes to mind is the plight of Cambodian fishermen.
But not for Peter Grant, who used redundancy money to found the property management and investment firm with his wife Collette more than a decade ago.
Grant Management has grown from owning a few properties bought for his pension to managing some 1,800 in the UK. Last year, it turned over £12m, generating more than £1m in profits.
Its fund management arm, Grant Fund Management, runs three institutional property funds with Bank of Scotland, Sir Tom Hunter’s West Coast Capital and Buccleuch Property. These have a combined value of more than £200m.
Recently, weightier matters have taken up some of his time. Inspired by Bill Clinton’s visit to Glasgow in 2006, when the former US president spoke of global warming as the “number one priority”, Grant set up Global Trees, an environmental charity.
It has now planted more than 300,000 trees worldwide. But Grant wants that figure to run into tens of millions. The charity has no paid staff and every pound donated goes towards the planting and maintenance of trees, as well as a programme to ensure they are not quickly cut down.
His company is itself now carbon neutral, either by reducing its impact on the environment or offsetting.
“You have to use energy to run a business but ensuring that light bulbs are low-energy or computers are switched off plays its part,” he said.
“A few years ago, it was simply a box to be ticked by business when talking about corporate governance but I detect there has been a major change. When a company the size of Wal-Mart says it wants to know the carbon footprint of its suppliers, then you have some idea of how this affects everyone.”
Clinton got to hear of Grant’s efforts and invited him to New York for dinner.
“It was fascinating and inspiring,” said Grant.
“We have now planted 300,000 trees in many places around the world. In Cambodia, for example, we planted mangrove trees which help the fishermen in the swamps by improving the storm barriers.
“In the UK a lot is being done too. It is great when you see a company such as Stagecoach going carbon neutral along its Fife to Edinburgh bus route by planting thousands of trees.”
The Global Trees website has a carbon calculator. “People are surprised at how much CO2 we generate individually,” said Grant. “Things like rising fuel prices have an effect because people have to use their energy more efficiently and it means clever ideas about generating energy from other sources become more cost-effective.”
Running Grant Management still takes up most of Grant’s time. His company buys, renovates, lets and manages residential property, mainly in university towns, for private and institutional clients. Is he worried about the property slowdown?
“It would be foolish to suggest anyone is immune but it does not fundamentally affect our business plan,” he said “If anything, it opens up opportunities. We are in places with demand. We are in university towns, we do not buy new-build, two-bedroom flats, of which there is a glut, and on top of that, if prices come down, we are in a strong position to take advantage.
“The tougher conditions will also shake out some of the competition. However, investors are becoming more wary. Some people are waiting to see what happens but, in some ways, there has never been a better time to invest.”
Economic conditions, though, have hit Grant’s plans to float the company. He had targeted this year, or 2009 for a listing but, while entering the stock market remains an aim, it has been put on hold.
Green concerns are not so easily put aside. He believes governments should do much more to encourage companies and people to focus on environmental issues.
“The prime minister spoke last week about the need to boost oil production and I understand why, but I would also like to see the UK government commit just £50m to planting trees in the Third World countries,” he said. “It is not a lot of money, would show we were committed and would make a substantial difference.”
Peter Grant is the key speaker at the first in this year’s series of Albion Dinners, hosted by the Marketing Society Scotland in conjunction with The Sunday Times, which takes place on June 5 at Lloyds TSB Scotland’s headquarters in Edinburgh. The topic for the evening is how business can embrace and profit from the challenges of global warming.
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Labels: Global Trees, Grant management, Green housing, Peter Grant, zero carbon housing
