Eric Grove’s Catesby Property Group, with a hefty portfolio of mixed use plots of residential, commercial and mixed use land across the UK, is keeping busy despite the fall in property values.
Latest published profits, pre-dating the worst of the recession, showed a 70 per cent upturn to £9 million on sales of £40.4 million, and shareholder funds rose from £8 million to £14.8 million. Falling land values will have had an impact since then.
One of Catesby’s flagship projects is Firstpoint – a £200 million business and retail park near the M18 in Doncaster.
Firstpoint, being developed in partnership with Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council and Yorkshire Forward, is also the home of Doncaster Chamber and Business Link.
Firstpoint’s development and rapid big-name letting will give Eric Grove, who founded Stratford and London-based Catesby in 1996 and has 50 years experience in house building, a lot of satisfaction. At 80 he still takes a keen interest in the development of the company.
The Vantage Point twin unit distribution facility near Fort Dunlop in castle Bromwich is also a Catesby project.
Catesby has become a specialist in developing brownfield sites and has established an £80 million joint venture with Bank of Scotland to tackle brownfield sites in London and the south east.
The company is also working with local authorities to provide affordable homes for the elderly and key-workers, and also flood alleviation schemes.
The company has major residential developments in Les Arches, Jersey, as well as Hertfordshire and North Devon.
Eric Grove – who began his career in the 1950s at Stourport-based Thomas Vale Construction – made his fortune after setting up residential property business Canberra Developments in 1968. He sold out to housebuilder McAlpine, netting around £40 million in shares.
A former director of Coventry City FC, he now lives in Warwickshire. His other business interests include a stake in a property investment company.
