Olaf Kier, (c.1899 - 1986) was the founder of

Kier Group Kier Group plc is a British construction, services and property group active in building and civil engineering, support services, and the Private Finance Initiative. Founded in 1928 in Stoke-on-Trent it initially specialised in concrete enginee ...

, one of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

's largest

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

businesses.

Career

Born and educated in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

as Olaf Kiaer,''Ove Arup: masterbuilder of the twentieth century'' By Peter Jones
Yale University Press, 2006, , Page 54 Olaf moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to pursue his career. Together with Jorgen Lotz, he founded Lotz & Kier, a

business, in 1928. The business name was changed to J.L. Kier & Co Ltd a few years later, after Lotz withdrew from the company. In 1941 he acquired the Lexham Hall Estate near

Litcham Litcham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated some north-east of the town of Swaffham and west of the city of Norwich. The village is located on the B1145 a route which runs between King's Lynn and Mu ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

but, in 1945, when he saw the condition that the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

had left it in, decided to put it back on the market. He instead acquired the Cokenach Estate near

Barkway Barkway is a long-established village and civil parish in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England, about five miles south-east of Royston, 35 miles from London and 15 miles from the centre of Cambridge. The Prime Meridian pa ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

.Cokenach Cricket Club websit
History: The Later Years
Retrieved 2011-10-11 In 1965 he established the Olaf Kier Danish Charity. He was a member of the Danish Club at 62 Knightsbridge and was awarded made

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for industrial and social services in 1970. He died in a motor accident in May 1986 aged 87.

References

1890s births 1986 deaths Danish emigrants to the United Kingdom Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom 20th-century British businesspeople People from Barkway {{UK-business-bio-1890s-stub