CEO | Adderstone Group
Ian Baggett is the Founder CEO of Adderstone Group, one of the largest privately-owned property companies in the North East of England.
Ian was brought up in a mining village and became the first person in his extended family to attend university. Whilst attending Durham University, Ian carried out an undergraduate dissertation on "The geography of student accommodation in and around Durham city" that doubled up as a business plan. He used that, along with a £2,000 inheritance, to raise a £13,000 loan from Northern Rock to buy a terraced house in a Durham mining village for £15,000. Adderstone Group's commercial portfolio is now valued at £150m, and some 3,686 people live in homes developed by its residential division.
Ian was voted North East Entrepreneur of the Year by his peers in 2007 and nowadays finds himself negotiating deals with some of the world's largest real estate funds such as Starwood Capital and Blackstone.
Prior to focussing full-time on building Adderstone Group, Ian had a short career as a tennis professional and served as a commissioned officer in the Royal Navy in the run-up to the 1997 handover of Hong Kong. He also completed a PhD in Political Geography at Durham University and is a published author.
As a shareholder director of Turbo Power Systems Limited, he and fellow directors orchestrated a management buyout from global mining giant Vale and subsequently delisted it from the Canadian stock exchange. His combined experience in business, military and geopolitics make him a valued shareholder and director of defence and counter-drone specialist, OpenWorks Engineering Limited. He was also a founding shareholder and director of what has become one of the North East's largest contracting businesses, Brims Construction, and cofounded the leading digital agency, Shout.
Ian has founded over 50 companies, which have delivered £1.1bn worth of economic output, 7,900 construction jobs and 10,865 supply chain jobs.
The aim of our Foundation has always been to ‘make good stuff happen’. We’ve witnessed first-hand the journey many of our benefactors have been on and the positive impact the Foundation has had.
In 2007, Ian formed the Adderstone Foundation, which has supported a range of causes from tennis development for juniors and the visually impaired, supporting armed forces veterans, through to postgraduate scholarships for Afghani women.
He is currently Chair of the Employability Group for HMP Northumberland and has held visiting fellowships at Durham and Northumbria Universities.
A keen sportsman, Ian has represented Great Britain at tennis, was a winning crew member in the Contessa fleet at Cowes week 2019, and is a veteran of the UK Iron Man. At home, Ian is a proud father of three and enjoys spending his spare time with his family on the Northumberland Coast.
Research statistics provided by Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners Limited in 2020.
In 2007, Ian formed the Adderstone Foundation.
Find out more
• Shoe Dog by Phil Knight • Open by Andre Agassi • Hong Kong by Jan Morris • Close the Coal House Door by Alex Glasgow • Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig • Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman • The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley • Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits • Summon the Heroes by The Band Of H.M. Royal Marines
