A London Town Exclusive: Rethinking Real Estate with John Burns and Simon Silver

With 35 years leading Derwent as co-founder and CEO, John was one of the longest-serving and most successful bosses of a listed company in the UK. He stepped down as Derwent London CEO in May 2019 and was appointed Non-executive Chairman until May 2021. As an entrepreneur and founding CEO in the 1980s he established Derwent Valley Holdings with Simon Silver and from a start-up with a portfolio value of £1.4m its value now stands at £5.5bn. In the early days John, Simon and their team focused on buying and making use of empty, light industrial buildings in undeveloped areas of London and turning these into high quality and design-led office buildings more suitable to the service-based economy. Flagship buildings include Tea Building (Shoreditch), the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlisted Angel Building (Islington), White Collar Factory (Old Street), Brunel Building (Paddington) and the recently completed 80 Charlotte Street (Fitzrovia). A recipient of many awards, Derwent has regularly won the Most Admired Company Award from Management Today in its sector, testament to John’s leadership and standards. The company has also been ranked in the top ten most admired companies overall in the UK. Derwent has become one of the most respected and innovative property companies in the country. It has pushed the boundaries of design and construction to build high tech, efficient and environmentally advanced developments which have attracted many firms to the UK and London.

Co-founder of Derwent Valley Holdings. Simon has overall responsibility for the Group’s development and regeneration programme together with the commissioning of architects. He is also at the forefront of the Company’s brand identity. He is an honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Simon is a founding director of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, a Stirling Prize-winning architecture practice established in 1989. From AHMM’s base in Clerkenwell, Simon leads a studio that works in London and internationally, engaging public and private clients in the exploration of a particular architecture’s potential to offer delight as well as utility. He works at a wide range of scales and, eschewing conventions of specialisation and particular use, develops through his work his polemic for ‘The Universal Building’, an idea that underpins his approach to large scale urban regeneration projects as well as one off buildings that accommodate a wide range of very different uses. His buildings and projects have won numerous national and international awards for design and technological innovation and have been widely published.

Fiona is a Partner in the Construction and Engineering Group and Head of Sector for Real Estate, Construction and Disputes at Charles Russell Speechlys. Fiona advises Derwent London on the construction aspects of all of their developments. More broadly, Fiona advises commercial developers on a wide range of construction projects and property transactions, including central London office and mixed-use developments. Fiona also acts for hotel developers in respect of their asset maintenance and development and routinely acts for purchasers and tenants in relation to complex acquisitions and lettings. Fiona has been ranked as a leading individual in Chambers & Partners every year since 2013.