Scheme’s COO heads off to join development manager Grafton

A top boss at Battersea Power Station is leaving to join developer and project manager Grafton at the start of next month.

Scott Grant began work at the development in 2012 as a project director for the first phase which centred on more than 800 flats designed by SimpsonHaugh and built by Carillion.

He later worked on the masterplan of the site before leading phase 3 of the scheme, a residential complex designed by Frank Gehry and Foster & Partners, the first two parts of which have been built by Sir Robert McAlpine.

scott grant

Scott Grant spent more than a decade at the Battersea development, becoming COO two years ago

He became chief operating office in early 2022, helping oversee the opening of the second phase, the main turbine hall development built by Mace and designed by Wilkinson Eyre.

Grant said he was leaving before the next stages of the scheme at Battersea begin in earnest.

He added: “It has been an absolutely incredible journey for me at Battersea and the place that the team have created is truly extraordinary. However, the time is right for me for a new challenge.

“Grafton is an amazing business, working discretely and successfully on some of the most incredible projects in the world. It’s a really exciting time to be joining the board and I am very much looking forward to working with the entire Grafton team to take the business to the next level.”

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Grafton was set up in 2013 and Grant, who was also a partner at EC Harris and a project director at GVA Second London Wall after spells at contractors Mace and Laing, will become the London firm’s fourth director.

Grafton, which employs 65 people, said it “focusses exclusively on the development and project management of ultra-high end residential and hospitality projects as well as managing and operating the residential properties for clients”.

It added: “Grafton has adopted a deliberately very low-key profile and do not advertise for business, preferring to maintain the utmost confidentiality in all residential projects.”

The firm’s best-known current project in the UK is the refurbishment and extension of the Ritz Hotel in London where it is the development manager.

Sir Robert McAlpine is working on the deal, a massive five-storey basement extension at the hotel featuring a two-level spa, 20m swimming pool and a gym.

The £300m-plus scheme, the biggest refurbishment in the world-famous hotel’s near 120-year history, will also add 53 new rooms and has been codenamed Project Picnic.

Other jobs Grafton has worked on include the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Doha, while it is currently working on luxury hospitality projects in France and Italy, alongside a new scheme in Argentina. The firm is also leading on three large scale masterplanning projects in the Mediterranean, North America and the Middle East.

A Grafton spokesperson said: “We are exceptionally pleased to have Scott joining the board. He brings to the company a genuine wealth of construction knowledge and management expertise as we continue our expansion.”