This year sees Kingsbridge mark its milestone 20-year anniversary. Founder Robert Langmead and CEO Chris Fry look at the business’s past, present and future.

The idea of founding a property development company came to Robert Langmead on an aeroplane. Established as a successful entrepreneur with his Natures Way Foods business, Robert was flying home from the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia when inspiration struck.

“I’d had Natures Way Foods for 10 years, and due to high growth I was constantly getting more involved in building the factories – the planning and construction side of the company,” he remembers.

“So, I thought, why don’t I hire a small business team that can act independently, but focus on development, the next project, planning permission, and at the same time manage my small portfolio of buildings?”

In its early days from 2004, the business consulted for Natures Way Foods and supported Robert’s growing property portfolio.

“I wanted to keep my food businesses, but focus on something new, so I threw myself full time into Kingsbridge,” he says. “I started to recruit more professionals into the team, and introduced more capital so it became a developer and manager of real estate, rather than just a manager.”

A crucial principle that set Kingsbridge apart from other developers and landlords of the time was inspired by Robert’s dealings with supermarkets.

“Their primary driver was customer service, and I thought why not bring that sort of mentality to real estate?” This commitment to being the “landlord of choice” remains one of Kingsbridge’s core principles to this day.

By 2018, Robert wanted to step back from the day-to-day running of the business, and help it get to the next level under new leadership. Following an executive search Robert appointed a new CEO, Chris Fry, who has a background in fund management, asset management and investment.

Chris recalls, “from day one, Robert gave me his total trust, allowing him to step away from the day-to-day running of the business.”

Chris set about retaining the Founder’s focus on excellence and relationships, but reset the strategy to be primarily a developer, supported by an investment portfolio. Sector wise, the business has focused on developing industrial warehouse schemes and creating best in class office spaces across the South and South-East.

Chris and Robert agree on the importance of Kingsbridge’s team, and in investing in their health and wellbeing as well as professional development.

“I feel that in the world of mental and physical health, this is a challenging time for everyone for various reasons,” says Robert. “We look after our team and I think that’s one of the reasons why, 20 years in, we’re in very good health in terms of the quality and commitment of our people.”

Robert remains with Kingsbridge as its founder and owner, with trust in Chris and the team to deliver. He also has an experienced Chairman, Ian Playford, to guide the Board.

“I expect energy from them and to have confidence in the strategy, I’ve got a fantastic Chairman, CEO and CFO, to take decisions with a great team behind them,” he says.

A highlight of recent years has been delivery of Kingsbridge’s largest project to date, working with a joint venture partner, Bridges Fund Management, to develop and deliver an award-winning, highly sustainable logistics scheme at 32 New Lane, Havant, pre-let to Amazon.

The achievement was even more notable given that the process began in the early days of the pandemic.

“The world was being turned upside down, but we had the resolve between us to say let’s keep moving forward, ”Chris reflects. “Working with Bridges, a social impact investor, was a great experience, and a good example of how we can work with partners – something we increasingly want to do is increase the scale and number of projects we are developing.”

Whatever the future brings, Chris and Robert are aligned in their view that sustainability will continue to be a major focus for the business.

"We challenge ourselves to be ahead of occupiers' and investors expectations. Our latest scheme at Ferne Park, Segensworth will be our most sustainable yet, with a target to achieve BREEAM Outstanding, EPCAA+ and Net Zero Embodied Carbon.

“I’m excited to watch Chris and the team as they take this ethos with them and move into the next era for Kingsbridge.”

And how does Chris see the business evolving over the 20 years to come?

“We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing – continue to grow the number of projects that we're developing, but not compromising on quality excellence, and sustainability,” he says.

“The wonderful thing about property is that you know you’re making a difference. You can’t beat driving past something we’ve developed, and saying to yourself, ‘we built that!’

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