The Powers That Be

Insider’s Property Power 100 recently revealed who they thought had the biggest impact in the North West region. The feature gave a snapshot of how Insider sees the world of North West property right now and the Eric Wright Group were lucky enough to have two of its team members ranked.

To arrive at the list, Insider invited nominations, trawled through back issues as well as news reports for the new deals and developments.

The power brokers, in which Eric Wright, Chairman of the Eric Wright Group placed at number 12, are the industry stalwarts, the figureheads and the inspirational leaders. Eric Wright Group was founded in 1923 as Brown & Jackson. For the last 40 years, the headquarters have been based at Bamber Bridge in Lancashire. The ownership of the Eric Wright Group is by the Eric Wright Charitable Trust which is a unique long-term partnership between the commercial and charitable arms. Eric Wright, the company’s Chairman, established the Trust in 1990 to support his vision of operating a more sustainable and collaborative business model anchored around some core principles. Today, the group turns over around £200m and works across various sectors including commercial, industrial, logistics, residential, healthcare and mixed use. It employs more than 700 people.

Placemakers, in which Karen Hirst, managing director of Maple Grove Developments placed at number 24, are those driving forward regeneration and creating communities, championing the North West. Karen was appointed managing director of Maple Grove Developments in 2018 and main board director for the Eric Wright Group having joined the company in 2016 as a director. She was previously development director at Salford City Council and Central Salford Regeneration Company. Karen is under way with the £26m retail and leisure development Pioneer Place at Burnley, Deeside Industrial Park and the next phase of Cathedral Square in Blackburn.