Rich List 2012: =No.12 - Sir Peter Rigby (£480m)
Air cargo services are resuming at Coventry Airport after an absence of two years, thanks to its chairman, computer entrepreneur and aviation enthusiast Sir Peter Rigby. He bailed out Coventry Airport in 2010 and has ambitious plans for it.
His aviation group, Patriot Aerospace, bought the airport and gave it the promise of becoming a vibrant hub once again. Before Sir Peter Rigby acquired it, the airport had been closed for months after the previous owner was wound up with spiralling debts.
Now he has plans to develop the airport and its surroundings in a £250 million investment which will create thousands of jobs, despite the setback of not being awarded Enterprise Zone status.
He plans a technology office park and manufacturing and distribution activities on the land surrounding the airport, alongside improving the airport’s passenger and cargo facilities.
All good news for Sir Peter, who has also added Brockencote Hall in Worcestershire to his luxury hotel chain in a £4 million deal. The Victorian mansion at Chaddesley Corbett near Kidderminster becomes the fifth hotel in Sir Peter’s Eden Hotel Collection which also includes the Michelin-starred Mallory Court Hotel near Leamington.
The founder and head of technology giant Specialist Computer Holdings (SCH) has three more hotels as part of the group: the upmarket and exclusive Kings Hotel in Chipping Campden, the Arden Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon and Buckland Tout-Saints in Kingsbridge, Devon.
