Ian Baggett

Ian Baggett

Founder CEO

Ian was brought up in Chopwell Woods surrounded by a community of mining villages in the North East, and attended Hookergate Comprehensive School.

He holds a BSc (Hons) in Geography, a PhD in Political Geography from Durham University and is a published academic author. Whilst an undergraduate, Ian wrote his dissertation on student accommodation, which doubled up as a business plan enabling him to borrow £13,000 from Northern Rock to fund his first development.

After graduation, Ian served a short commission as a Royal Naval officer with deployments in the Mediterranean and Hong Kong (1997). Upon leaving the Royal Navy, Ian worked as a trainee surveyor with Sanderson Townend and Gilbert (now Sanderson Wetherall) before committing full time to growing Adderstone.

Adderstone Group is now widely respected as having made a significant contribution to economic development and regeneration across a range of sectors and locations in the North East of England. The Group has developed or held over 2,000,000 sqft of commercial floorspace and is responsible for housing more than 1% of the population in Newcastle’s urban core.* Ian’s career has seen him found or co-found more than 50 start-ups, including North East construction giant Brims and create in excess of £1.1bn in economic output and thousands of jobs across the North East. Ian’s early accomplishments resulted in him being named North East Entrepreneur of the Year by his peers in 2007.

He has held Visiting Fellowships at both Durham University (2012 – 2015) and Northumbria University (2015– 2018) and was appointed Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 2019.

Ian’s successful track record and unique experience across a range of sectors (academia, sport, military, property and business) has seen him become a major asset to the Boards of OpenWorks Engineering Limited – a security-technology business based in the North East whose counter drone technology has been used to defend three successive US presidents, and Turbo Power Systems Limited, specialists in power electronic solutions and global smart-grid power management systems, where he supported a management buyout and delisting from the Canadian stock market in 2017.

In 2007, Ian set up the Adderstone Foundation, the charitable arm of Adderstone Group which has supported a number of community, sport, education and health causes, contributing more than £803,000 in donations and support so far.* The foundation is delivering food, water and medical supplies to war-affected regions of Ukraine, and has supported initiatives that reform prisons to help ex-offenders find employment. In 2022, Ian was appointed as the inaugural chair of the Employment Advisory Boards (EABs) for HMP’s Northumberland, Durham and Lower Newton.

Ian has represented Team GB at tennis and is a successful veteran of the UK Ironman.

In 2023, Ian was appointed by Durham University Business School as a Professor in Practice. On accepting the role, Ian’s stated aim was to help inspire pupils from the region to choose Durham University and students already at Durham University to stay on in the region and build great careers, businesses and lives.

*Independent analysis undertaken by Pegasus Group 2023

Contact Card