The extraordinary life and career of Tony Pidgley were celebrated at a memorial service attended by the prime minister at St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday, writes Damian Wild.
Hundreds of the Berkeley founder’s friends, family, colleagues and peers gathered to recognise the achievements of a man who left an indelible stamp on the built environment and on London.
Pidgley, who died aged 72 in 2020, was among the most admired business leaders of recent decades. As well as growing Berkeley from a start-up to a FTSE 100 company over four decades, he was the longest-serving president of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He was awarded a CBE in 2013 for “services to the housing sector and the community”.
At the service, Berkeley chief executive Rob Perrins led tributes to Pidgley, alongside Pidgley’s daughters Annabella and Jessica. Boris Johnson gave a reading from 1 Corinthians 12, while among other readers and those paying tribute was Lord Kerslake, former head of the civil service and the first chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency.
The congregation included current and former senior figures from the public and private sectors, councillors and officers from many London local authorities, as well as directors of other developers, housebuilders and advisers. The cross-sector congregation was a tribute to Pidgley’s mantra: “Good development is all about people. The challenge is to put people at the heart of homebuilding, working together in the spirit of partnership.”
The Prince of Wales was represented by Dame Susan Brice, chair of the board of trustees of the Prince’s Foundation.
Pidgley always linked his extraordinary career to his unconventional childhood. Much of his early life was spent in care before he was adopted, aged four, by a Traveller family, Bill and Florence Pidgley. He left school aged 15 and launched his first business, a haulage and plant firm, which he sold to Crest Homes (later renamed Crest Nicholson), joining as building director. Today Berkeley’s market capitalisation is £4.4bn.
Gerald Ronson was among the many who went to pay tribute at St Paul’s Cathedral. “He was wise, straight and had a genuine sense of values,” Ronson told EG at the time of Pidgley’s death two years ago. “He was the doyen of the residential property business, he was the guv’nor of that business. He had the vision, the ability, the work, the drive.”
Pidgley is survived by his wife Sarah and their daughters Annabella and Jessica, and by his son Tony and daughter Tania from his previous marriage.
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