Christopher Montague Grigg (born 6 July 1959) is a British businessman. He was formerly the chief executive of The

British Land The British Land Company plc is one of the largest property development and investment companies in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust when REITs were introduced in the UK in January 2007. It is headquartered in ...

Company plc, a British property development and investment company.

Early life

Grigg was educated at

King Edward VI School, Southampton King Edward VI School (also known as King Edward's, or KES) is a selective co-educational independent school founded in Southampton, United Kingdom, in 1553. The school was founded at the request of William Capon, who bequeathed money in hi ...

(where he was in Lawrence House), and graduated from Trinity Hall,

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

with a first in Economics.

Career

Grigg joined

Morgan Grenfell Morgan, Grenfell & Co. was a leading London-based investment bank regarded as one of the oldest and once most influential British merchant banks. It had its origins in a merchant banking business commenced by George Peabody. Junius Spencer Morgan ...

as a graduate trainee in 1981. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1985, rising to partner, before he left in 2005 to become Treasurer of

Barclays Bank Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

, and chief executive of Barclays Commercial Bank from 1 February 2007 to November 2008. In January 2009, Grigg joined British Land as chief executive. Although there has been some criticism of his decision to sell 50% of British Land's City of London Broadgate development to

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...

, as well as 50% of the

Meadowhall Centre Meadowhall is an indoor shopping centre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It lies north-east of Sheffield city centre, and from Rotherham town centre. It is the largest shopping centre in Yorkshire, and currently the eleventh-largest i ...

, Sheffield, Grigg has stated his belief that this was the right decision in the long term: "We aspire to outperform the market. It's kind of hard to do that if your two largest assets have been underperformers." In January 2012, he said that the City of London's skyline needs to become more like Manhattan to attract companies to the capital, and that office spaces need to be larger and more flexible. In September 2020, Grigg announced he was stepping down as chief executive of British Land from December 2020. Grigg was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire 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 ...

(CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to business, particularly during the COVID-19 response. In April 2021, it was announced Grigg has been appointed as the chairman of the new

UK Infrastructure Bank The UK Infrastructure Bank is a British state-owned development bank. It is intended to help with the UK Government's plan to reach net-zero carbon by 2050 and to support economic growth in regional and local sectors across the United Kingdom. ...

. Grigg is a non-executive director of BAE Systems plc.

Personal life

Grigg is married and lives in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, with his wife and five children.

References

1959 births Living people British chief executives British corporate directors British bankers Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge People from Harpenden People from Southampton (district) Goldman Sachs people Barclays people People educated at King Edward VI School, Southampton British Land people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire {{UK-business-bio-stub