Elliot Robertson

Chief Executive, Manorlane Group of COmpanies

When Elliot Robertson decided to go it alone in the property sector, it was to be the start of a fast-moving, successful business.

Elliot worked for the Robertson Group for fourteen years, latterly holding the role of Group board director.  During this time, he grew the Robertson Homes business into a company with more than £30m turnover per annum. Latterly his involvement in over £45 million worth of land acquisition helped deliver £5.9m of profit for the homes business in 2004. As board director, he oversaw not only the homes business but also construction, PFI, facilities management, timber frame and property with a combined turnover of £140m.

In July 2004, Elliot decided to pursue his passion for house-building and land acquisitions. He started out on his own and made his first land acquisition in December 2004.

At this point, he set up Manorlane Ltd to supply premium, prestige middle market sector houses. The company began building on its first site in May 2005.

Manorlane focuses on the acquisition of large brownfield sites, de-contaminating them before building on them. These developments have proven to be extremely popular with planners, due to the luxury feel of the properties and the improvement to the social and environmental surroundings of the area.

All of the designs are Georgian-style and each Manorlane home has been individually designed so that all but two from the complete range can be adapted to include a beautiful garden room or to add a whole additional floor utilising the roof space. The clever use of design means that Manorlane's six core housetypes can be adapted to create a total of 28 individual homes.

Elliot believes the key to the company's success lies in its offering of high quality, middle market homes and the importance that it places on customer service, in creating and maintaining a prestige housing brand. This is underpinned by winning the overall Scotland Zurich Customer First Award for his Liberty Row site in Armadale.

He has built up a strong management team to help him grow the business, and currently has a team of 57 staff.

The company now has five distinct companies: Manorlane; Manorlane Property, which focuses on providing commercial property; Manorlane Energy, which provides renewable power to people and companies who wish to become green; Manorlane Active Living which builds and sells retirement property in response to the growing demand for independent, safe accommodation for the over 60s; and Manorlane Investments which holds investment property acquired from Manorlane companies. 

Manorlane has expanded with new sites in North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, West Lothian and East Renfrewshire. The company has built a land bank in excess of 1,600 units which will deliver revenue of £300m over the next six years.

Since Manorlane was only established in July 2004 and didn't acquire its first land until December 2004, nearly all the achievements to date have been made in its first year of trading. Three of the biggest highlights for Elliot and his team are the acquisition of a 488 unit site at Bellshill, on the 47-acre former Clydesdale steel works site, which will deliver revenues of £100m; a 465 unit site in Blackridge, West Lothian and securing two major land deals on a prestigious site in Newton Mearns, Glasgow.

Since 2006, Manorlane has tripled turnover and profits and by the end of 2008 the company will operate 10 sites.

Elliot is now looking to expand into more areas in central Scotland and believes the key to further growth is in the acquisition of other house-building companies, additional land and effecting land swaps with other developers.