Knight Dragon appoints new CEO as Margree retires

Greenwich Peninsula developer Knight Dragon has appointed a new chief executive from Mapeley to replace Richard Margree, who is retiring from the business. Matt Hawkins will take over as chief executive with immediate effect. He will lead the next phase of the firm’s flagship Greenwich Peninsula scheme alongside the Knight Dragon team. Margree is retiring after a 30-year career, including more than 12 years with Knight Dragon, during which he helped to spearhead the company’s investment and vision to deliver 17,500 homes at Greenwich Peninsula. Hawkins brings 25 years of experience in the UK real estate industry both developing and delivering schemes for joint ventures and international private equity firms. At Mapeley he was managing director of development with responsibility for the repositioning and redevelopment of one of the UK’s largest privately owned nationwide portfolios covering the majority of major UK cities. Knight Dragon vice-chairman Sammy Lee said: “Matt’s strong career track record across numerous residential, commercial and hospitality schemes brings a wealth of multi-sector, prestigious development experience to our flagship project. My gratitude is extended to Richard Margree who has been instrumental in driving Greenwich Peninsula’s progress and has been at the forefront of this pioneering regeneration scheme that is helping to shape a brand new piece of London.” Hawkins added: “We’re currently 10 years into the wider 30-year masterplan and already we can see the fantastic transformation that has been taking place. We have a great team and an extraordinary project which I’m looking forward to driving to completion.” Margree said: “It has been an immense privilege to work with Sammy Lee and the Knight Dragon team over the past 12 years. Watching Greenwich Peninsula evolve from an embryonic idea to a fully fledged London neighbourhood has been an honour. I would like to thank all of our team and partners for their support along the way and look forward to seeing the continued growth of this fantastic place with Matt at the helm.” To send feedback, e-mail julia.cahill@eg.co.uk or tweet @EGJuliaC or @EGPropertyNews Images from Knight Dragon