Bruce Weir Ritchie (born February 1965) is a British property developer and residential landlord, and the owner of the Residential Land Group.

Early life

Bruce Weir Ritchie was born in February 1965. He was educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

where he was a contemporary of

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...

. He is the son of professor H. David Ritchie, a leading surgeon in the 1980s at the Royal London Hospital and Dean of the Medical College, and his wife Jennifer Prentice, a State School teacher. His older brothers are a Queen's Counsel and a scientist. Ritchie was brought up in Dulwich, South London.

Career

Ritchie left school after A levels and joined

Harrods Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...

as a management trainee. He bought his first properties whilst still working for Harrod's. In 1991, Ritchie founded Residential Land Limited and is its CEO. The company grew strongly in the 1990s and 2000s. Ritchie through his Residential Land Group of 163 companies owns around 1,200 privately rented properties in prime central London and

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

. In the early 2000s Ritchie had a business partnership with the chef

Marco Pierre White Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the ''enfant terrible'' of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White became ...

and his business partner Jimmy LaHood in relation to some central London restaurants. Residential Land is one of the largest residential property companies in London. In 2016, Ritchie sold a block of 58 flats at Garden House, 86–92

Kensington Gardens Square Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Gar ...

, London W2, which he bought for "a low price" in 2001. In the same year, Residential Land was named Asset Manager of the Year at the RESI Awards 2016, organised by ''

Property Week ''Property Week'' is a UK business-to-business magazine which reports on the worldwide commercial and residential property market. It reports news, features and analysis and the latest information from the industry - from development opportuniti ...

''. In May 2016, Ritchie was named ''Entrepreneur of the Year'' at the PROPS Awards, a UK property industry awards event. In July 2017, Ritchie was ranked 28th in

’s annual Power 100 list, having been described as a ‘consummate dealmaker’.

Controversy

Ritchie was one of the co-chairmen of the

Presidents Club The Presidents Club Charitable Trust was a British charity known for an annual charity dinner held from 1985 to 2018. The dinner, held usually at The Dorchester hotel in London, was for male guests only and was considered a "mainstay of London's ...

charitable trust, which disbanded in 2018 after reports of sexual harassment and assault at its charity dinner. In January 2018, as a result of the media attention that the presidents Club received, the Canadian investment group,

Ivanhoé Cambridge Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc. is a Canadian real estate company based in Montreal, Quebec. With assets around the globe, its areas of activity are investment, development, asset management, operations and leasing. The company's real estate portfolio c ...

, and a major financial backer of Ritchie, announced that it would make no further investments with his company, Residential Land.

Politics

Ritchie has been a staunch supporter of the Conservative Party throughout his adult life. In 2013, he and his wife Shadi donated £111,600 to the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. As of 2018, the two had given the Conservative Party more than £750,000 personally and through their wholly owned company, Residential Land.

Personal life

Bruce Ritchie is married to Shadi and has two teenage children. Ritchie alongside his wife Shadi are Event Chairs for the

Elton John AIDS Foundation The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) is a nonprofit organization, established by rock musician Sir Elton John in 1992 in the United States and 1993 in the United Kingdom to support innovative HIV prevention, education programs, direct care an ...

. Bruce was part of the committee that helped launch the first-ever Midsummer Party in July 2019, which raised $6m.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Bruce Living people 1965 births People educated at Dulwich College Conservative Party (UK) donors British landlords